The
leader of Britain's trade union movement has warned of creating a "Downton
Abbey-style" society in which social mobility "has hit reverse".
Frances
O'Grady argued that there was "no sign of the economic recovery in most
people's lives".
The
TUC general secretary also said that, under the coalition, "class
prejudice" was becoming "respectable".
The
Conservatives said the party would not take "lectures from a cluster of
union bosses on six-figure pay deals".
Ms
O'Grady's speech to TUC delegates in Liverpool expanded on the annual
conference's main theme of living standards.
'Silver spoons'
She
said: "Are we going to settle for a nastier and poorer Britain - a Downton
Abbey-style society, in which the living standards of the vast majority are
sacrificed to
protect the high living of the well-to-do?
protect the high living of the well-to-do?
"We
are piling yet more riches onto a privileged few. Economic growth is back but
there's no sign of it in most workers' pay packets. In fact, the gap has got
worse. Top chief executives now earn 175 times the wages of the average worker.
"Silver
spoons are ever more firmly clamped in the mouths of those who were born with
them."
Downton Abbey
She
added: "And under this government, class prejudice is becoming respectable
once again."
Ms
O'Grady told of mixed housing apartment blocks where social housing tenants
must use a separate entrance, the so-called "poor door'" and private
nurseries refusing to offer subsidised places to children from less well-off
families.
Independence debate
But
a Conservative Party spokesman said: "The real threat to people's living
standards is the return of a Labour government, bought and paid for by Frances
O'Grady and her union colleagues.
"Nothing
could hurt Britain's future more than Ed Miliband as prime minister, marching
to the unions' tune."
The
Labour leader will visit the conference on Monday and is due to deliver a
speech to union leaders in the evening.
What is social mobility?
Social
mobility means the degree to which a person's social status, or class, can
change throughout their life.
Social
mobility occurs whenever someone moves across social class boundaries. This is
difficult to measure. Class might be measured by education, income or
background.
Of
most interest is the question of whether people from poor or deprived
backgrounds are equally able as those from privileged backgrounds to achieve
success - usually measured by income - in life.
Historically,
social background has played a large part in determining a person's life
opportunities and future success.
Mr
Miliband will thank "trade unions, trade unionists and the labour
movement" who, he will say, are "playing such an important role in
keeping Scotland and the United Kingdom together" by supporting the
campaign against Scottish independence ahead of the referendum on 18 September.
Usdaw,
the NUM, the GMB, Aslef, Community and the CWU have signed a joint statement to
this effect.
"These
trade unions are saying that the choice which is true to Labour's traditions,
to trade union traditions, is to say 'No'," he will say.
However,
the RMT union is supporting the Yes campaign in Scotland and the TUC has
declared itself neutral in the debate. Ms O'Grady reiterated this position
during a media briefing on Sunday.
In
her speech she paid tribute to Bob Crow, the outspoken RMT leader who died
earlier this year, saying: "Bob may be gone, but his spirit lives
on."
BBC
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