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The company is owned by the Private Equity firm Macquarie. Strike action affects 180 Airwave workers, including UK-wide field engineers and the network management centre in Rugby. Action starts at 7am on Friday 13^th March for 24 hours and then at 7am on Monday 16^th March for a further 24 hours. An ongoing overtime ban will be in place from Friday 13^th March.

Andy Kerr, CWU deputy general secretary, said: "It is unfortunate that staff have been pushed into the difficult decision of taking strike action. However, the refusal of Airwave to reconsider compulsory redundancies has left us no choice.

"Voluntary approaches to redundancies can make a huge difference to staff at difficult times and we will fight unnecessary compulsory cuts at all times."

Grace Mitchell, national official with responsibility for Airwave, said: "This is a very clear result demonstrating the strength of feeling among Airwave members.

"We would hope that this result will make Airwave reconsider their compulsory redundancies and approach this difficult situation with more consideration for their staff."

A picket line will be in place at the Rugby network management centre during strike days.