Public sector workers doubled their number of strike days last year in protest over government plans to axe jobs and introduce controversial pay arrangements.

Total days lost rose to 904,900 in 2004, according to figures published today by the Office for National Statistics.

The biggest single stoppage last year took place in November when 200,000 civil servants, inlcuding Jobcentre employees, tax officers and museum attendants, stopped work for 24 hours over plans to lose 70,000 jobs and relocate large numbers of staff, to achieve efficiency savings of £21.5bn.

However, this figure is still well below the 1970s levels, when an average of 12.9m days were lost annually.