Teachers in Jersey have voted overwhelmingly for strike action in protest at a public sector pay freeze.

A substantial majority of those who responded to ballots backed industrial action after the Channel Island refused pay rises in an attempt to plug a #163;50 million deficit.

Figures for ballots run by the NUT and the NASUWT unions, published this week, show a strong appetite for industrial action, including a walk-out.

The dispute is about a pay freeze instituted in 2009 and the removal of negotiating rights for unions. Teachers received a 2 per cent rise from January this year, but no backdated pay as they had demanded.

NUT figures show a turnout of 60 per cent, with 77 per cent of respondents backing strike action. The NASUWT turnout was 67 per cent, with 69 per cent in favour of striking.

NUT general secretary Christine Blower said: “We feel that the teachers are being made to suffer as a result of problems caused by others and that the money to give an adequate pay rise, which was originally in the budget, should be restored.”