By Sean Coughlan BBC News Online at the NUT conference, Harrogate

Teachers are going to launch a campaign for higher pay

The National Union of Teachers' annual conference backed calls to scrap the current settlement and submit a demand for a 10% increase.

Teachers accuse the government of seeking a pay freeze - with a reduction of �300m from the teachers' pay bill.

Delegates heard claims that teachers were so badly paid that some staff had to take second jobs during the summer holidays.

Teachers as waiters

This claim was made by a newly qualified teacher, Lucianne Angel, who says that working in London on a teacher's salary meant "struggling to get by".

She told the conference that she knew of teaching colleagues who had to supplement their salaries by working in restaurants over the summer holidays.

The union wants to stop the pay arrangement recommended by the School Teachers' Review Body - and says that it will submit its own demand.

Delegates voted in support of a demand for a 10% pay increase (or �2,400 extra if that is greater) and a higher level of London allowances.

The conference heard the review body's deal described as an "attack on teachers' pay" which the union needed to challenge.

And a series of speakers accused the government of trying to impose an unfair settlement, including the narrowing of access to the highest pay scales.

"If they won't to talk to us, we must make sure that they hear us," said Alex Kenny of east London, who described the pay deal as "robbery".

The motion adopted by the conference calls for a campaign to build up opposition to the pay settlement - and speakers called for this to be supported by strike action.