MIDLAND head teachers will be balloted over strike action next week as a bitter row over public sector pensions continues.

Members of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) will begin voting next Thursday on whether to strike for the first time in the union’s 114-year history.

The ballot comes almost three months after widespread public sector strikes, which saw more than 270 Birmingham schools hit by industrial action.

And on Wednesday, council workers walked out on strike in protest at new contracts being imposed at Birmingham City Council.

The NAHT ballot result is due on November 9, a few weeks before the TUC trade union’s day of action in protest at the Government’s controversial plans to increase pension contributions for millions of public sector workers.