In reply to David:

Hello David
From this thread, it appears there's mixed understandings/views of whether someone is obliged to tell their employer in advance that they will be taking industrial action.
The answer as the various responses have confirmed is that they aren't obliged to do so, as while it is legitimate for employers to ask, it is totally at the discretion of the employee whether they choose to tell their employer in advance of action or not, and as you say, many TUs will advise their members not to declare in advance.

What striking employees are obliged to do is respond to reasonable request for information after the strike date (e.g in the form of providing a declaration of which date(s) they participated in the action), so that employers can make pay withholding arrangements as appropriate.
the suggestion of a management note reminding people about reporting absence for other reasons (e.g sickness etc) seems to be somehow conflated in the thread with reminding people to report in advance that they plan to be on strike on a particular date/s. As I say above, employers can remind or request all they like in advance, but have no particular recourse if employees choose not to declare in advance. The position after the strike dates is different, as the request to employees to declare strike action afterwards, for the purpose of pay withholding, can be phrased as a reasonable instruction (with either an express statement, or an implied one, that failure to follow this reasonable instruction may be treated as a disciplinary manner) but quite honestly, threatening striking or non striking employees with disciplinary action in advance of strike dates (or indeed after), even if couched in the form of management guidance, is IMHO is not conducive to good industrial relations (even though case law may allow for disciplinary sanctions, short of dismissal, in certain circumstances, it doesn't mean that this is the starting point we must take).
Anyway - sorry if I've just said a heap of stuff that you already knew - if so, please ignore me!
best wishes, Ann

In reply to Ann Simpson:

That's all most enlightening and many thanks indeed, Ann.
( Hope all the strikers are truthful folk......!)

It all reminds me of our local NHS Hospital Chief Executive's response to strike action long ago there - he commissioned a personalised T shirt emblazoned with the words "I'M A MATCH FOR ANY STRIKER" and turned up to work proudly wearing it and posing for press photographs. As you observe 'not conducive to good industrial relations....'............

In reply to David:

I work in a University, rather than a school so we don't close on strike days. We make it clear to managers that they can ask nicely but staff are not obliged to tell in advance if they are taking action. (We often find staff tell students on the quiet to save students having to travel to the campuses when the class is cancelled). However, we expect all staff who took action to record this on our HR system once they return. The information is not seen by managers (Unpaid Leave for Strike Action is not "approved" by managers). I then share the total number of those declaring action with the Branch Officials and a breakdown by department with Senior Managers. In the last few strikes we have had, despite our local union mandate being somewhere in the 80% for strike action, in reality fewer than 50% actually record this action. Sharing with the local branch means they know how low the declared action is and can put pressure on any member who doesn't work but doesn't declare (and lose pay).