TEACHERS at a troubled school have begun voting on whether to take industrial action.

As the postal ballot opened yesterday, the general secretary of teaching union NASUWT, Chris Keates, blamed the staffing and financial crisis at Middlesbrough's Unity City Academy on management.

Members are being urged to vote for action to halt changes to working conditions.

Mr Keates said: "The crisis currently threatening the survival of the Academy arises from two years of ineffective management, a failure to budget efficiently and flawed planning."

Academy principal Martin Lang has written to staff urging members to stay at work.

Joe McCarthy, chairman of the Unity Trust Board, said: "I sincerely hope that when they examine the facts we have presented, our staff will reach the conclusion that there is no case for industrial action."