Talk of financial recovery rings hollow in the homes of working people across the country who know from day-to-day experience that their living standards continue to be squeezed and depressed.

The recent revival of excessive banking bonuses and MPs' expenses scandals will have underlined the fact that austerity has hit hardest where it could least be afforded and that we live in an unfair and inequitable society.

George Osborne's recent Budget reinforced that theme with a cap on welfare budgets which will extend that aspect of the austerity programme through until 2018-19.

Save the Children estimates that an additional £3 billion of cuts has been added to previous measures, which will inevitably push more and more families into poverty.

Public spending now stands at its lowest share of national income since 1948.

It's a challenging scenario for trade unions, particularly those in the public sector. But it is one that needs to be responded to.

The PCS motion on defeating austerity talks of co-ordinating "trade union responses" - in other words using our collective strength to achieve a common aim.

The EIS amendment on public-sector pay echoes this same theme where it calls for the STUC general council "to support and co-ordinate the activity of affiliates in opposition to government pay restraint."

Such motions, of course, are easier to pass on paper than they are to realise in practice. But the necessity of bridging that gap has never been greater.

The trade union movement remains the single largest organised voice in our communities - we are, or should be, the backbone of resistance to political policies that protect the privileged at the expense of the rest of us.

The 1 per cent pay policy which was applied across the public sector this year and last by Scottish and local government is a case in point.

It represents a pay cut in real terms and a further cut in living standards.

For the EIS and teachers, it points forward to two potential scenarios - one is that a point is reached where a major campaign is required to achieve a restorative pay award, as has happened in the past, and the second is that a public-sector alliance comes into play to mount a co-ordinated challenge to government-imposed pay restraint.

Such scenarios are not mutually exclusive, of course.

Public-sector unity will be essential too in challenging the ongoing cuts agenda.

The budget cuts referred to above are in addition to those already announced, the majority of which are still in the pipeline. Local authority services have been significantly damaged already through cuts made in jobs and budgets.

The solution to these challenges lies in changing the type of macro politics that government and political parties seek to pursue.

Whether we talk of Scotland or Britain, we are not a poor country.

Tackling and taxing excessive executive pay, for example, would be one simple measure which would contribute to tackling the growing inequalities in our society.

Fact - the 100 wealthiest individuals in Britain have the same income as the poorest 18 million.

In referendum year, the really big question is not what constitutional arrangement should we have but rather, what kind of society do we wish to live in.

Larry Flanagan is general secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland.