TODAY’s lobbying of MPs on the Trade Union Bill could prove to be one of the most critical for labour movement. At stake is our very ability to practice any form of democracy at work.

On the face of it there would appear to be very little reason for the Tories’ fresh attack on the right to strike.

You could almost be forgiven for thinking that their current legislative programme is born of a lack of ideas that led them to cast their memories back to past Tory governments.

But in truth it is a recognition that the labour movement represents the single biggest obstacle to austerity.

Britain already has some of the most repressive anti-union laws in Western Europe and they are incredibly effective. The number of working days lost through industrial action has plummeted over the last two decades, from a yearly average that regularly topped tens of millions down to hundreds of thousands.

The media focused on the “dramatic” rise to nearly 800,000 in 2014, mainly due to action on pensions by public-sector workers. To put this in context, nearly 24 million working days were lost due to work-related ill health and 4 million through workplace injuries.

If improving economic productivity was the motivating factor then strengthening health and safety laws, reducing working hours and ending “precarious” employment would be at the top of the agenda.

The Byzantine balloting and notification process that unions have to undertake to be allowed a single day’s industrial action hasn’t ended industrial militancy but it has seriously affected its power.

But much more than that, unions’ inability to protect and defend their existing members’ pay and conditions has undermined efforts to organise those six million workers who aren’t even making a living wage before the tax credit cuts come into effect.

The case for trade union membership has never been stronger. In 2014 unionised workers were an average of £4,000 better off than their counterparts. But this is all too often wheeled out to divide workers rather than prompting a stampede to sign up. It is vital to get the message across that winning improvements for one group of workers improves the lot of all workers.

But it isn’t just a case of having the right ideas.

Opposition from the Labour Party and the Scottish and Welsh nationalists raises the possibility of a mass campaign — one that could even have the power to topple this government with its small democratic mandate.

This is the reason for the Tories’ pre-emptive attack and the sweeping powers and red tape that the Bill introduces.

Attacking facility time and giving the trade union certification officer powers typically reserved for the judicial system neuters unions’ ability to play any effective political role in society and working-class communities.

It’s an essential tactic in driving forward the agenda of our ruling class before the next economic crisis hits. While the battle lines are confined within Parliament, mass media and the legal framework they are trying to create, it’s a battle they know they can win.

From the day after Jeremy Corbyn’s victory in the Labour leadership election, Michael Gove and other Tory front benchers have been wheeled out to paint him as a threat to “national security” and to “civilised politics” due to his support for street protests. A Labour leadership that recognises the power of extra-parliamentary struggle and doesn’t actively seek to constrain and mollify a militant mass labour movement is the Tories’ worst nightmare.

Defeating this Bill through mass campaigning, parliamentary pressure and solidarity with its resisters will help make their nightmare a reality.