Trade union leaders, politicians and campaigners have signed a hard-hitting open letter published yesterday demanding the government gets its "hands off our unions."

As the Con-Dems prepare to launch an inquiry into trade union tactics the signatories of the letter published by the People's Assembly in the Guardian, including left Labour stalwart Tony Benn and actor Roger Lloyd Pack, have slammed the move as an ideological stunt to "undermine the right to protest against its austerity programme."

The letter, also signed by the general secretaries of 10 unions including Unite's Len McCluskey, PCS's Mark Serwotka, NUT's Christine Blower and CWU's Billy Hayes, states: "The trade union's customary right to strike and the right to protest are fundamental liberties that have already been significantly restricted by anti-union laws and other legislation.

"This inquiry is a new Tory-Lib Dem assault on the unions, demonstrated by the fact that the appointed chairman is the former QC for British Airways who led the attack on Unite during the previous dispute between Unite and BA in 2011.

"As millions of people face falling real wages, unemployment, part time or casualised low paid work, and the rapid destruction or privatisation of the welfare state they stand in need of trade union organisation and the right to protest more than ever.

"We pledge ourselves to resist this attack. The right to protest is a fundamental civil liberty. The right to join an effective trade union is the product of generations of working class resistance. We have no intention of relinquishing it to a government with no interests in the needs of working people."

The People's Assembly has also published an appeal
from campaigner Owen Jones for donations at http://tinyurl.com/DonateToPA