I TAKE exception to D Wardell's letter "Unions want to bring Britain to its knees". Harking back to the past does not represent today's reality.

Trade unions represent more than seven million workers and they were founded to support working people in their workplace. When I started work, I was advised to join a trade union so it could protect my rights at work.

It is striving to do exactly that in my workplace. I am a member of UNISON, and I am on strike today to act collectively with other members to protect the pension I have been paying into for many years.

Strikes today are very rare and are a last resort when all negotiating avenues have failed.

In law, the contract that employers and employees enter into is supposed to be one of mutual trust. Perhaps D Wardell can tell me and others why, if that trust breaks down, we should not have the right to withdraw our labour when our working terms and conditions are attacked and all other avenues have failed?

Ben Drake did not make the decision to take strike action - many UNISON members (and don't forget the other ten unions too) voted in a secret ballot by a margin of 80 per cent nationwide.

The poll in the Evening Press showed that readers broadly support that decision by another large margin of 75 per cent to 25 per cent.

And finally, we will not be wasting taxpayers' money, as we are not paid when we take strike action, which I hope further demonstrates that strike action is a very last resort.

Andrea Dudding,

Lock House Lane,

Earswick, York.

Updated: 09:19 Tuesday, March 28, 2006