LONDON - Tens of thousands of British government workers have voted in favour of taking strike action over pay, pensions and redundancy terms, the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union said on Thursday.

The union, which represents workers employed by several British government departments, said an average of 86.2% of its balloted members voted for industrial action, the highest percentage vote in the union’s history.

“Our members have spoken and if the government fails to listen to them, we’ll have no option than to launch a prolonged programme of industrial action reaching into every corner of public life," the PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said in a statement.

(Reporting by Muvija M, writing by Farouq Suleiman, Editing by Kylie MacLellan)