I am a secretary and admin support assistant at a special school in Brighton.

I have the school holidays off, a small pension to look forward to and I love my job. So why am I striking today?

Simple. I can't live on my salary - I just about survive. After all my bills are paid, I have £45 a week to live on, if I'm lucky.

My busy working day is regularly punctuated by children shouting abuse.

I have been verbally abused and physically threatened by irate parents. So why don't I leave?

The same reason my colleagues don't. We are a rare breed of loyal, caring, hard-working people (mainly women) who want to have an input into our future society. But we are all underpaid.

All we are asking for is a decent wage for an honest day's work.

-Susan Byrom, ACE, Queensdown School, Brighton