Hackney Lifeline staff have voted to strike for two days after their services were altered and employees had to reapply for new roles within the organisation.

Of the 27 staff voting, 25 were in favour of two day-long walk-outs on Thursday 23 February and Wednesday 29 February. Frustrated that their services are being reformed, staff at the council-funded drug rehabilitation charity turned to union Unite which conducted the ballot and liaised with staff over the issues they are facing.

Unite regional officer Jamie Major said: “Our members don’t wish to take action, as their clients are their priority, but they have been forced to do so as a last resort. They would much prefer for the council to enter into real and meaningful talks about how these cuts can be mitigated or even reversed.”

Unite claims that the specific areas affected by the restructure are the support service for the children of drug and alcohol-using parents, the specialist women’s service and the drug counselling service.

But this is vehemently refuted by Lifeline chief executive Ian Wardle (pictured), who says the service has been redesigned in line with the government’s strategy of ensuring that greater numbers of addicts recover. Lifeline has issued a document outlining its proposed changes. Wardle said: “I am confident that the final design enables us to creatively deliver a better quality, high-performing service focused on delivering recovery outcomes for a wider range of Hackney residents at a time when the challenging economic climate demands better efficiencies.”

Wardle also asserts that by restructuring Lifeline the children and women’s services will have more staff members dedicated to them. Major denies this is the case saying that staff have been given more generic roles and that talk of strengthening departments are merely “semantics” and an “elastoplast approach”. The new structure means that drug and alcohol practitioners will also be employed as counsellors.

Wardle claims that under the redesigned structure 19 staff members from the 25 offered jobs would earn more. However, Unite has stated that some employees could lose up to £4,000 per year while those earning more will only gain around the £200 mark. It is expected that ten staff will leave via voluntary redundancy.

Unite maintains that it has twice submitted standard recognition agreements to Lifeline, which the charity countered with one of its own. Wardle claims this one goes “beyond the minimum pay and benefits”.

The borough of Hackney has one of London’s highest estimated numbers of problem drug users at around 4,500. Lifeline community drug service opened in 2008 and has treated hundreds of local residents. The centre currently employs 37 staff.