The National Association of Head Teachers has warned the Chief Minister its members are prepared to strike.

The NAHT, NASUWT and the Association of School and College Leaders unions are in dispute with DESC over pay and conditions. Its members are currently not covering any activities such as lunch and after school clubs, for which they are not paid.

At a meeting of members this week, head teachers voted unanimously to escalate action from March 31 and will walk out forcing a half-day school closure.

The union’s national secretary, Rob Kelsall, wrote to Howard Quayle saying that he was ’buoyed’ to hear of his confidence that the deadlock with the Department of Education, Sport and Culture could be broken.

However, Mr Kelsall added: ’It is clear to me that such optimism is continuing to be undermined by actions of DESC officials who are both provocative and targeted.’

He told Mr Quayle that the vote to support a strike is ’a direct consequence of the actions of DESC officials and the deterioration of industrial relations’.

It is likely Mr Kelsall is referring to incidents such as chief executive of DESC, Professor Roland Barr, sending letters to the unions during half-term threatening to dock teachers’ pay during their industrial action.

The threat of strike action will, according to Mr Kelsall, only be carried out if no resolution in the ongoing dispute can be reached.

He added: ’This [strike] would be an unprecedented move and one which is entirely avoidable if political capital is invested into resolving this matter as a top priority.’

While potential strike action should not come as a surprise for anyone who has followed the dispute, Mr Kelsall has also called on some senior figures at DESC to contemplate their future.

He said that following Mr Quayle’s announcement of a review into DESC and the dispute, he thinks that ’senior officials of DESC reconsider their approach and their own positions in relation to the dispute and to finding a resolution’.

Mr Kelsall added: ’I say this as the dispute has now been running for over 12 months. And, despite our best efforts to resolve this, we have faced obfuscation, prevarication and delay at every opportunity.’

The union chief also again called on Mr Quayle to meet with senior officials of the trade unions and teaching associations so that ’trust and integrity can be established and that your sense of confidence that a resolution to this dispute can be fulfilled’.

Before a formal strike is declared, the decision will be relayed to the NAHT national committee for final approval before formally notifying DESC.

If that is granted then schools could close on March 31 and teachers could protest outside that day’s sitting of the House of Keys.

A DESC spokesman said the department ’is disappointed that the NAHT has announced its intention to escalate action to a half-day strike’.

He added: ’No one wants children’s education to suffer and DESC has been waiting since mid-December to re-engage with the unions under the guidance of the Manx Industrial Relations Service.

’The DESC recognises the commitment and dedication of all teachers to provide a first class education for the island’s children and young people.’