THERE are many things that divide political parties; however we can usually rely on a political unity around the idea that secure and well paid jobs help families escape poverty.

For too long Glasgow has experienced the toxic mix of unemployment and poverty. I am determined that the Labour council I lead will do something to break those bonds. However, we are confronted by other political parties who do not seem to have the same will. Notably in these ranks stand the Conservatives who seem to think that the problem with the UK is that the poor have too much money and the rich don’t have enough.

So we see the Tory Government’s savage cuts to working tax credits. These will see around £1200 ripped from the hard-pressed family budgets of thousands of Glaswegians every year. The impact these changes will have on the poorest working families in our city has meant that I have led efforts from the City Chambers to demand that David Cameron reverse these draconian cuts.

I was proud to see Kezia Dugdale, Labour’s leader in Scotland signal that if Labour were in government she would use the new powers coming to the Scottish Parliament to restore the tax credits that Scottish families stand to lose. She says scrapping the SNP’s plan to cut Air Passenger Duty and the Tory’s plan to cut taxes for those on incomes greater than £150,000 would pay for this. That’s a pledge to Scotland’s poorest families that Labour supports them against Tory cuts for millionaires.

Last week we were pleased to get cross party opposition in the council against the cuts to tax credits. The SNP group backed Glasgow Labour to condemn them and support their restitution. But then what happened when the same issue reached the debating Chamber in Holyrood? Dear reader you might not believe this but the SNP and Tories joined forces to defeat Labour’s motion. So with the press of SNP voting buttons in Holyrood the single voice that Scotland needed to oppose Osborne’s disgraceful attack on working families was lost. Shame on them.

So while the SNP talks about fighting inequality and poverty recent events suggest that when they are put to the test they say one thing and do another. Glasgow Labour is going to say what we mean and do what we say. That is why we launched the Glasgow Guarantee which has so far helped more than 6000 people into sustainable employment. A scheme so successful it has been extended past its initial lifespan and is now guaranteed for the lifetime of the current Labour Council. It is why, in 2009, we launched the Glasgow Living Wage to ensure that the pay packets of all Council employees allowed them to not just survive, but live with the basic dignity we all deserve.

It is this same sense of civic and moral duty that motivates Glasgow’s Labour Council to stand up to Tories’ attacks on low paid workers and the Trade Unions.

This week the Tories will be debating their plans to hit trade unions in Parliament. Under their plans, the very life blood of the unions - the payment of membership subs - will be under attack, limiting their ability to organise in the workplace and threatening the future of organised labour. The already draconian restrictions in place on the right to strike will be intensified, making it near impossible for workers to withdraw their labour in protest against injustice. Yet again it’s another sign that the Tories just don’t care or understand ordinary men and women across the country.

If the Tories push ahead with these new plans, I can assure you that Glasgow City Council will use every power we have to prevent them penalising workers and their ability to organise. I wonder if the leaders of the SNP and SNP council groups across the land will say the same?

Make no mistake the time to stand up and be counted on where you stand on trade union rights is upon us. I think I can almost hear the strains of the old Billy Bragg song “Whose side are you on, whose side are you on?”