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Philip Parkin shows considerable naivety if he believes that constant negotiation that is not backed by the threat of strikes will achieve better pay and conditions (Letters, March 10). The employers have had five months' notice of our pay claim and have refused to treat it seriously.

Parkin is also ill-informed if he believes students do not support our actions. At the picket line outside London Metropolitan University, there were students who signed a petition in support of the strike, and students who expressed their support in other ways, including one who treated the frozen pickets to a cup of tea.

I accept that pay will be docked for a strike but I do not accept the arbitrary and capricious pay docking for action short of a strike by London Met. This is why I, along with others, am taking legal action against the university.

Hazel Dawe London Metropolitan University