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DERMOT MURNAGHAN: Frances O’Grady is set to become the new boss of Britain’s most powerful union body, the Trades Union Congress. She is the first woman ever to lead the TUC, she has also never been on strike apparently and she joins me now from Brighton. A very good morning to you, Frances O’Grady. It has been said about the TUC that it is becoming increasingly irrelevant and it is now the union bosses themselves, the big union bosses that call the shots when it comes to the big issue of opposing the cuts and the austerity programme, that it’s the Len McCluskey’s and the Dave Prentis’s that matter and not you.

FRANCES O’GRADY: The TUC is a united body, we speak on behalf of not just our six million members but on behalf of all ordinary working families who are feeling frustrated that the government has got its economic policy badly wrong. Austerity isn’t working and they are looking for a real change of direction and some hope for our young people, there are a million young people unemployed.

DM: Yes, but that point about who is making those points most stridently and what action you take about it, as I said in the introduction is it true by the way that during your career you have never been on strike?

FO’G: That’s right, I haven’t been on strike but the TUC is here to support those workers who through a democratic ballot feel that they are being treated so unfairly that the only thing they can do is stand up against that injustice. Of course that’s what the TUC is here to do but we’re here to win hearts and minds, to try and persuade the government to stop cutting and start investing and to do something to get people back to work, to get the real economy moving again and stop this madness of austerity.

DM: So would you say your , you’re expressing it there, that you have a preference for persuasion, negotiation rather than confrontation?

FO’G: Trade unionists are pragmatists, we are always looking for sensible compromises but on this one we know that the vast majority of people support us. The government’s approach simply isn’t working and when you’re in a hole you should stop digging. Cutting people’s pay, pensions, jobs and services is taking this economy to the brink of disaster. There is no sign of recovery, we’ve got the biggest squeeze on living standards since the 1920s and the economy is tanking. We need a change of direction now and we hope the government will listen.

DM: Okay, and how do you get that across? Let me go back to those big union beasts, do you agree with this, Dave Prentis from UNISON saying he wants the TUC to support co-ordinated strike action against cuts in pension, pay and jobs this autumn? Do you support that?

FO’G: The TUC is always here to co-ordinate and support our unions, that’s what we exist to do and we are also looking for a really big turnout at our national demonstration on October 20th in London where people get the chance to say we want a future that works, we want the government to change course, to stop sacking people and start getting this economy moving again.

DM: But a day of action, a demonstration, isn’t the co-ordinated strike action that Dave Prentis says might be and will be necessary.

FO’G: Yes, well they’re not mutually exclusive and of course [interference] action in a democratic ballot is what the TUC is here to do, we’re here to support them. Let’s be clear, a lot of people feel very angry that they’re being forced to pay the price for the sins of the bankers and that we still haven’t got to grips with the root causes of the crash and seen some real fundamental reform of our banking system.

DM: Do you think the unions though did themselves any favours during the run up to the Olympics, and look how successful they’ve been, when some of them were talking about strike action to get large amounts of money? It really didn’t do the image much good did it?

FO’G: I think if you asked Seb Coe, and in fact we’ll be hearing from Seb Coe by video at Congress, you’ll understand that the Olympic authorities recognised that the workforce and the unions were absolutely at the heart of making these Olympics a fantastic success for the whole country and of course it’s right that bus workers and transport workers should get a fair share of the extra revenue they were generating during that period, that’s only fair and I think most people agree that all the profits shouldn’t just go to the top, that ordinary workers deserve their rewards too.

DM: Can I ask you, how are you preparing the ground before the accede to the top of the TUC, have you opened lines of communication to Secretaries of State, to the Prime Minister?

FO’G: Absolutely. I’m keen to meet as many Ministers as I can but I’m also keen to get around and meet and listen to as many workers and employers who are struggling to keep their businesses afloat in the current climate.

DM: Okay, Frances O’Grady, thank you very much indeed down there at the Trade Union Congress in Brighton.

FO’G: Thank you.