The leader of one of the UK’s biggest trade unions said she is “aghast” by Keir Starmer ’s approach to striking workers - urging him to “pick a side”.
Unite boss Sharon Graham warned that his party is becoming “irrelevant” to the people it represents - and at times sounds more like the Conservatives.
She spoke out in response to Sir Keir sacking shadow transport minister Sam Tarry after he joined the picket line in London this week.
The General Secretary of Unite said: “If I was speaking to Keir right now I would say to him: which side are you on? Because the reality is, if I closed my eyes, sometimes I wouldn't know whether it was the Labour party or the Tories who were speaking.
“This is one of the biggest crises that workers are facing - we are trying to defend them with every fibre of our being and the party who is supposed to be echoing that in parliament is doing the exact opposite.
“I'm very disappointed - aghast, quite frankly - and I think it’s something Labour is going to have to think seriously about.”
Sir Keir has insisted he was left with no choice but to sack the Ilford South MP after he booked TV appearances and made up party policy "on the hoof".
But Ms Graham pointed out that Mr Tarry - seen on the picket line in Birmingham on Friday - had merely demanded that “workers should get pay rises in line with inflation.”
“Is Labour’s policy now to have a national pay cut?” she added. “Because if you don’t get wages in line with inflation, that’s what’s happening.”
In a direct appeal to its leader, Ms Graham demanded: “Which side are you on? If you’re on the side of workers, you need to defend workers. Actions speak louder than words.
“All the soft words that are coming out of the rhetoric are white noise - no-one is listening to it. You need to show that you absolutely believe in defending workers.
“And if you don’t do that you are no longer the party for workers - that’s the reality.”
Ms Graham - who joined strikers dozens of times in recent months - said there’s a feeling amongst workers that Labour politicians are “not doing what they’re supposed to do.”
“I do think that’s going to have an impact on the general election,” she continued. “People are going to wonder, where are they and what’s the role of this group?”
Meanwhile, the Conservatives are failing to understand the “real hardship” people are in as they battle pay cuts in real-terms paired with soaring bills, the Unite boss said.
She believes leadership candidates Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss have “underestimated the mood of the country” by pledging to introduce measures to curb union action.
Both have said they would ban strikes in essential public services and Ms Truss proposed also to raise ballot threshold for industrial action and minimum service levels during strikes.
Ms Graham - who says a general strike in future months cannot be ruled out - said: “Whichever of them gets in it makes no odds to me because they’re not going to do anything for workers.
“I think they are underestimating the sense of fairness that people have in this country, which is that workers have gone out and defended and lost their lives in the pandemic.
“The idea that we return to companies making exorbitant profit in some instances and workers going to food banks in others is not acceptable.”
But she stressed that workers are “not victims” - and that she has been preparing for “attack” in her 11 months as leader.
Unite has won over 300 disputes and secured around £60mil wages for 63,000 workers since she was elected.
“It didn’t surprise me that, because we’re winning, they want to now curtail the way that trade unions are able to defend workers,” Ms Graham said.
“We’re not victims. My job is to defend workers. I expected them to attack, they have attacked - and I’m ready.”
She called for a “national conversation” after it emerged energy giants Centrica and Shell have raked in billions of profits, adding that the economy “is not working for ordinary people.”
And she revealed that she had been inspired by England’s Lionesses’ Euro success. “It’s hugely empowering for women to see those women doing what they’re doing,” she said.
