IT support staff at Direct Lines' Croydon office have voted to be balloted on strike action, announced finance union Unifi.
Rob Macgregor, Unifi's chief negotiator at Direct Line's owner, Royal Bank of Scotland, said the consultative ballot had attracted a turnout of 85.5% of the eligible union member.
He said they had voted "overwhelmingly" in favour of a second ballot to decide upon strike action.
The second ballot will take place between Monday 27 October and Friday 7 November. If members vote in favour of industrial action, the earliest it could begin would be 14 November.
150 members of IT support staff are facing retraining, relocation or voluntary redundancy following a decision to transfer Direct Line's IT support to London and Edinburgh.
