The government will introduce a bill to Parliament on Tuesday which would ensure public sector services maintain minimum service levels during strike action.
Under the proposals, some trade union members would be required to continue working during a strike.
Downing Street said the new legislation was necessary to "protect the public".
But unions have condemned it and threatened legal action, while Labour says the plans "won't work".
It comes amid a wave of industrial action across the public sector as workers seek pay rises in the face of the rising cost of living.
Ambulance staff - who are members of the GMB union - are preparing to walkout on Wednesday, after talks between the government and health service unions ended without a breakthrough.
The series of short meetings between trades union officials and government ministers on Monday were designed to talk about what pay might look like in the next financial year starting in April, rather than current pay.
But the BBC's political editor Chris Mason says the tone has shifted, on the government side and among at least some of the unions.
As well as discussions about a one-off payment, another idea being discussed is backdating any pay deal for the next financial year to the start of this calendar year, giving workers another three months at whatever rate they secure in the pay settlement being worked on.
Laws requiring a minimum level of service during industrial action were already promised for public transport as part of the Conservative's 2019 election manifesto. A bill was introduced to Parliament in October.
But the government is now seeking to extend this requirement to five other areas - the NHS, education, fire and rescue, border security, and nuclear decommissioning.
To meet minimum staffing levels - which are still to be announced - employers would be able to issue a "work notice" stating the workforce they need.
Employees named on the work notice would lose their right to protection from unfair dismissal if they then went on strike.
Consultations over what the minimum levels for each sector might look like are due to start imminently.
'Proper negotiation'
Business Secretary Grant Shapps, who will unveil the bill in Parliament later, said: "There has to be a minimum safety level that people can expect even on strike days - particularly in areas like healthcare, making sure that an ambulance can turn up for example - that's very patchwork at the moment."
Ministers have argued that this proposed legislation is similar to existing laws in other modern European economies.
Labour's shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.: "The way to resolve these disputes is proper negotiation."
He said in other countries which have minimum services rules, "it never works".
He blamed the current cost of living pressures on the government saying it had failed to growth the economy.
MPs will get a chance to debate the bill at its second reading next week.
Any legislation would not have an impact on strikes this month, which are still set to go ahead.
But after the bill makes it through the House of Commons, where the Conservatives have a sizeable majority, it is expected to face greater opposition in the House of Lords where the numbers are less favourable.
The proposals have also drawn condemnation from unions who have threatened a legal challenge.
TUC general secretary Paul Nowak described the bill as "an attack on the right to strike", adding: "It's an attack on working people, and it's an attack on one of our longstanding British liberties."
Source: BBC
Image: PA
