TORY ANTI-STRIKE laws are an insult to Magna Carta and a “threat to public safety,” TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady will tell trade unionists today.

Civil liberties campaigner Shami Chakrabarti and comedian Andy Parsons will address thousands of workers in Methodist Central Hall today in a renewed bid to quash strike thresholds, picketing restrictions and the curbs on union political funds.

Reps will then head to Parliament to lobby their MPs before a further vote on the Trade Union Bill later this week.

The rally comes as the TUC launches a new publicity campaign aiming to change popular caricatures of trade unionists through featuring case studies of recent strikers.

Ms O’Grady is expected to say: “Today working people from across the UK — midwives, steelworkers, dinner ladies — are travelling to London to show their opposition to the Trade Union Bill.

“In a year when we celebrate the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, the government is looking to take uncivil liberties with our basic freedoms.

“It speaks volumes for this government’s priorities that it is putting more energy into steamrollering this Bill through Parliament than helping our vital steel industry.

“The Trade Union Bill has no place in a modern democracy. It must be voted down.”

The meeting will also hear from rank-and-file trade unionists who have gone on strike.

And Unison general secretary Dave Prentis will also lay into the “hard-line Bill.” He is planning to say that it will attack every worker in this country — union member or not.

“It’s a Bill that is stuck in the past, outdated and not fit for purpose.

“The Tories say they are the party of the working people but their Bill attacks collective bargaining, attacks the work our reps do when they speak up for members, negotiate for fairness, for fair pay, for decency and for a better life at work.”

Ms O’Grady will make a renewed call for ministers to implement secure workplace balloting. General union Unite recently said it was prepared to support ballot thresholds if the government made this concession.

WHY THESE WORKERS DECIDED TO STRIKE

Daisy Bata, Cinema worker at the Ritzy, south London

Went on strike last year after film giant Cineworld refused to pay workers the living wage, in a dispute hailed as a model for organising precarious workers.

Lucy Masoud, London-based firefighter

Downed tools in opposition to reforms forcing firefighters to work longer and pay more into their pension pots, which union reps said would endanger the safety of workers and the public.

Natalie Linder, Midwife based in Sussex

Joined the first ever midwives’ strike after Tory Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt refused to give NHS workers even the 1 per cent pay rise recommended by independent reviewers.