My union was not on strike yesterday but I did nothing that would undermine the industrial action taken by another TUC affiliated trade union. So, what are the other unions doing about pay? Well, when the pay award was declared all those unions who are in the social partnership who negotiate with the government sat together and invoked the clause which was written in, and insisted on, by the SP unions i.e. that if inflation goes above 3.5% we could reopen pay negotiations with the government. For the last few weeks these unions have been negotiating with them for a new increase. It may not be this year that the new increase comes but, as teachers pay rises are negotiated and declared over 3 years, there may be an increase over the next two. NUT are not part of the SP, their choice as they did not agree with some aspects and I respect that, so only had this route open to them. They do not negotiate with the government in the SP. As for going on strike, my union, like the others use strike action as a last resort and usually on a school by school basis. We tend to use actions like withdrawl of good will and as most schools run on the good will of teachers , losing that hits the school but not the students. This does not mean to say that we would never call a national strike but have not done so for well over 25 years, using other forms of industrial action instead and only where needed. We e mailed as many members as possible within 24 hours of the increase being announced and asked what did the members want us to do and what was their biggest concern in conditions of service at present. The overwhelming answer was no strike action but real concerns over the increase in workload.