Members of the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) today voted in favour of industrial action over pensions, pay and working conditions.

Members backed strike action by 61 per cent while eight in 10 voted for other forms of industrial action. Turnout among its 250,000 members was 28 per cent.

The union’s national executive committee will now discuss a programme of walkouts and protests and expects to come to a decision on Wednesday 6 March.

The PCS threatened industrial action after the government refused to negotiate over pensions, pay and working conditions. It previously called for no rises to pension contributions and the pension age; and to stop reductions in pension benefits. It also called for a minimum pay rise of 5 per cent or £1,200 for all civil servants this year and for the living wage to underpin all government contracts.

A report published by the union’s indicated that since the onset of recession in 2008 the real value of wages in the public and private sectors has fallen by 7 per cent – a fall equivalent to more than £50 billion a year.

PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said: “We urgently need to invest our way out of recession, with an end to the economically disastrous pay freeze and job cuts and with a serious clampdown on tax avoidance and evasion.”

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