In the battle for hearts and minds, are unions on top?

On Wednesday, Britain will experience the closest thing to a general strike since the 1970s, followed by weeks of similar days of industrial action by health, teaching, rail and other unions.

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Royal Mail workers hold a rally in Parliament Square, . (Photo: Jonathan Brady/ PA)

This will be hugely disruptive and controversial, but it will also be a fascinating case study in communications and campaigning.

Polling by Ipsos a week ago showed that more than half of the public support striking health workers – both nurses and ambulance drivers – and only a third believe “trades unions have too much power today”.

This is in stark contrast to the 70s and 80s, when a majority of people were generally unsympathetic to striking unions.

The head of campaigns and communications for the Trades Union Congress (TUC), Antonia Bance, told me last week that she was excited by the increase in awareness of trade unionism without the accompanying “hardening of attitudes” that may be expected.

She said public support was high for most workers, despite some difficulties with the rail sector, although she clarified that these disputes do not focus or rely on gaining public solidarity.

Bance is an experienced, passionate and authentic communicator in person, which can also be said for some other union leaders, including RMT boss Mick Lynch.

“It’s rare for us to hear those authentic, working-class voices,” said Bance. “Mick’s not a bureaucrat – he spent his career on the trains.”

Instead it seems to be that the Government that is struggling to convince the public that it should stand firm on pay rises of a few per cent at a time of spiralling inflation. The Chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, reinforced this message this weekend, promising to control inflation and to cut taxes for business.

But one senses that “the fairness agenda” pushed by the TUC is winning British hearts and minds, particularly among the under-35s. A year ago the TUC started campaigning on TikTok and the social media platform has become its biggest channel.

“It turns out that there’s absolutely an audience of younger workers who feel like their working lives aren’t working for them. They’re using us as a news source, through our accessible video content,” said Bance.

As the country is hit by closed schools, non-running trains and slow-running ambulances this week, this communications battle is likely to become fiercer, as the stakes continue to rise.