TUC Congress: Public will back us against cuts – Barber

It followed warnings from Mr Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Union, that unions would fight for their members’ rights.

The RMT is asking the TUC to back calls for co-ordinated industrial action “to defend jobs, pensions and conditions”.

Mr Crow told journalists he envisaged a civil disobedience campaign with people taking to the streets with stunts such as “Batman scaling parliament and Spiderman going up Buckingham Palace”.

The union leader may have been referring to a high-profile campaign waged by the Fathers For Justice group in which a protester dressed as the comic-book character scaled Buckingham Palace.

Earlier Mr Crow said if there was a “concerted effort by this new government to attack workers in all different parts of society” then workers taking action should “co-ordinate that resistance to defend working men and working women”.

Mark Serwotka, general secretary of the Public and Commercial Services Union, said industrial action was “inevitable” but added: “It is clear the most effective opposition would be the biggest popular movement we have seen for many years.”

BBC political correspondent Reeta Chakrabarti, at the TUC in Manchester, said there were those who wanted to send out an aggressive message against cuts, and others who feared trade unions would be portrayed as political dinosaurs.