SUCH is unions’ anger and bewilderment at the Labour government that Paul Nowak has gone from saying ministers must “deliver” in 2025 to demanding they show us “whose side you’re on.”

Asked what the theme of this year’s TUC conference will be, the union federation’s general secretary told the Morning Star: “I think it’s very clear to us that working-class families, their families, communities are desperate for change.”

“That’s what they voted for in the last election, that’s what won Labour that huge landslide victory last year.

“But it is equally clear that that change has been slow in coming and for far too many people change feels like a slogan rather than a lived reality.

“I said at the start of the year that 2025 had to be the year of delivery for the government, and that is absolutely the case.

“And my overall message at the conference to government will be to show whose side they are on. They should show they are on the side of working people, their families and communities.”

A year on from his becoming PM under the promise of change, Sir Keir Starmer has overseen botched attacks on support for pensioners and disabled people and what the GMB union has called the “never-ending cost-of-living crisis.”

Official statistics are predicting a fall in average disposable income, while food prices, energy and utility bills have all soared as banks and fossil fuel companies post record profits.

While Reform’s popularity tops opinion polls by ever-increasing margins, grassroots Labour members continue to leave in droves amid factional purges for standing up for Palestine and against child poverty.

And fears for further watering-down of the Employment Rights Bill have grown as Chancellor Rachel Reeves faces plugging an estimated £51 billion financial black hole in public finances at this autumn’s Budget.

Now at the ping-pong stage between the Lords and government, the TUC has resorted to ensuring the PM understands “the real world implications of our legislation and why it’s important.”

“And we’ve been demonstrating that this stuff is overwhelmingly popular with the British public and is a clear dividing line with Reform,” added Nowak.

“My sense is obviously we’ve got income inequality in the UK, but the big inequality actually is between those at the top and the bottom — who’s got wealth and who hasn’t.

“Even right throughout the financial crisis, we know that those with the most assets in the UK have done very well, so they should be prepared to pay a fair share.

“We brought in four workers from sectors directly affected by the Employment Rights Bill to talk to Justin Madders, the employment minister, and to meet the PM, to demonstrate why it’s so important, not just in an abstract sense.”

The four included a shop worker who was told she couldn’t take a day off sick without losing pay after being left traumatised by racial abuse at work, with the PM also hearing from workers from the railways, care and Amazon.

TUC’s conference starts in Brighton tomorrow — a day after more than 1,000 people are expected to demonstrate against the proscription of Palestine Action in Parliament Square.

While some unions have backed the Defend Our Juries protests, the TUC is yet to adopt a stance on the issue.

“We would never condone actions that put workers at risk and are potentially threatening or intimidating workers, either from Palestine Action or any other group,” said the union leader.

“But I think the government should be very wary about proscribing organisations, and certainly people should have the right if they feel an organisation hasn’t been fairly proscribed to protest that fact as well.”

The TUC conference will coincide with a UN summit on Palestine, and “we are very clear that the government should use that conference to formally recognise the state of Palestine,” added Nowak.

“It’s a government manifesto commitment, the government has talked about doing it at the right time — this is absolutely the right time.

“I was in the West Bank in April and one of the points that was made to me constantly by Palestinian politicians, by trade unionists, by workers that I spoke to at the various projects that we visited is: how can we talk about a two-state solution when you don’t recognise one of the states — and I think that’s a fair challenge.

“We will be clear at our Congress this week: [Israeli prime minister] Benjamin Netanyahu is not intent on peace, is committing genocide in Gaza, and the UK government should be using every lever at its disposal to challenge that situation.”

Ministers will also face increasing union anger over rising levels of child poverty next week after the National Education Union hit out at the delays in the government publishing its child poverty task force strategy.

“This will be a feature of Congress next week,” said Mr Nowak.

“The thing the government could do that would have the biggest impact in terms of lifting kids out of poverty is lifting that two-child cap.

“That’s something that they should do, I think that’s something they should find resources to do, because I want every child to have opportunities in life and effectively discriminating against families’ third or fourth child makes no moral sense or no economic sense.”