THE Scottish TUC vowed at the weekend to support any trade union forced to break the law in order to defy the “draconian” Trade Union Bill should it be implemented in Scotland.

At the Scottish People’s Assembly AGM on Saturday, deputy general secretary Dave Moxham said that “any trade union that chooses to defy any aspect of this law, whether it is the picketing requirements, whether it is the ballot requirements, whether it is any aspect of this law, will have the full support of the STUC if they choose to do that.”

Mr Moxham said that the Bill represented a “real opportunity” to build the trade union movement. He said: “if we can say that the Tories’ intention is to attack our capacity to oppose them on the streets, to oppose them politically, then we need to redouble our efforts.”

Labour MSP Elaine Smith said the People’s Assembly was “the one organisation capable of developing a united fightback against the Conservative government’s assault on the trade union movement and the austerity cuts imposed on the welfare state and working people.”

She said “the tide is turning in our favour” but urged activists to mobilise as “now, more than ever, we need people power to make the Westminster government listen.”

Public sector union PCS NEC member John Jamieson warned that austerity was an “out-and-out class war being waged on all workers, trade unions and wider society” and said that the Trade Union Bill was an exercise in “silencing the millions to benefit the millionaires.”

Mr Jamieson called for “unity across unions and political parties to defend our public services and our class” and said the People’s Assembly was the vehicle for that struggle.

Unison Scotland organiser Simon McFarlane said that central to wealth distribution was fair taxation and called on the Scottish government to set up a task force to examine tax avoidance by companies operating in Scotland.

People’s Assembly national secretary Sam Fairbairn told the conference that the “anti-austerity movement is starting to get on the front foot” with recent opinion polls revealing that the population don’t want more cuts.