POLITICS “isn’t a spectator sport” and unions will work with the new Labour government to rebuild public services, shape an industrial strategy for Britain and face down the threat of racism, Paul Nowak told the TUC Congress today.

The TUC leader said unions could be proud of having united to see off Tory threats to the right to strike, winning above-inflation pay awards during the cost-of-living crisis and could be confident as a growing movement with 90,000 more trade union members than 12 months ago.

Its future rested on recognising MPs wouldn’t defeat bad bosses — only unions could do that, he stressed, by showing themselves truly representative of a diverse working class, training up hundreds of new black activists and women reps each year.