The economy is stagnant, threatening a lost decade. Spending cuts are destroying vital services. Ordinary families are seeing vital benefits withheld or frozen, while taxes for the biggest earners are cut.

Living standards are falling as wages stagnate but prices of family essentials keep on rising. Austerity is rolling back gains in equality.

Yet the government’s response is to intensify the policies that are failing. Rather than change course, cuts are getting deeper with whole services eliminated. Benefits are being held back for millions, with some of the most vulnerable seeing their incomes slashed — a recipe for social disruption.

The TUC and Britain’s unions are the country’s strongest social movement, organising in workplaces and communities. We have been in the forefront of fighting austerity. The trade union council movement has a key role in that struggle against austerity, the new Tory government cuts and the fight for a future that works.

The trade union voice in the community is as important as ever. The capacity of trade union councils to provide a local response and to organise trade unionists into coalitions with other progressive forces is crucial.

They do this by providing services which keep local trade unionists up to date with developments within the wider trade union movement, and by taking up relevant local industrial and community issues.

Trade union councils bring together unions to campaign around issues affecting working people in their workplaces and local communities. Today trade union councils campaign as part of the TUC’s A Future That Works campaign.

Trades union councils use every opportunity to expose how austerity fails and rips the local community apart and they press for an alternative economic model at local and national level which delivers good sustainable jobs for all
They work locally for the nationwide campaign to spread the living wage to private and public-sector workplaces and help co-ordinate union campaigns to win better pay at local and national level. They also press for better state and workplace pensions.

Trade union councils oppose outsourcing and privatisation at local and national level and fight NHS fragmentation and defend local health services. They expose the effects of the government’s cuts on services, benefits and working people at local level. They also campaign to defend welfare and oppose the stigmatisation of claimants.

Trade union councils defend workers and union rights and expose discrimination against pregnant and older working women. They oppose fascism and the far right at work, on the streets and at the ballot box.

Trade union councils work with unions to strengthen bargaining and campaigning power. They involve young people and community groups in the work of the trade union council and the local union movement.

Trades councils were behind the anti-fracking campaigns in Manchester, central to fighting museum closures in Liverpool and supporting the campaign against the ongoing cuts to staff and privatisation at the National Gallery.

Trades councils were key in ensuring that the far-right were kicked out of local government and they continue to ensure that fascists have no public voice in their communities.

Trade union councils bring that trade union difference to campaigning.

The trade union council movement created over 260 TUC unemployed workers centres across the country following a special congress in 1981. That link continues today, bringing unemployed people, and those on low pay and zero-hours contracts, into contact with trade unions and union members. This brings the experience and expertise of trade union activists to the work of the centres and feeds back in to the campaigning work of the trades councils and the union movement.

Trades councils across Britain have welcomed the principles of the People’s Charter and recently the TUC’s Trade Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee welcomed the publication of the People’s Manifesto and the adoption of the key charter principles.

These principles reflect the concerns that are being raised at this year’s annual conference of trades councils taking place at the Crewe Alexandra FC grounds this weekend.

The trades councils meet at a crucial time for the movement following the election of a majority Tory government determined to attack the trade unions.

The focus of discussion will be that attack, exemplified in the motions by the assault on the public sector and PCS union.

The other main area of debate is likely to be benefits sanctions and the digital divide — the gap between haves and have nots in access to technology.

We are expecting some excellent contributions and a high standard of debate based on real experience.

However, trades councils need trade union involvement to succeed. All trade unions should ensure that their branches affiliate to their local trade union council and if one does not exist set one up!

• Tom Mellish is secretary of the Trade Union Councils Joint Consultative Committee