The Trades Union Congress has devised an action plan to establish closer links with civil society organisations and better co-ordinate opposition to the public spending cuts.

The action plan includes a campaign pledge that it is inviting CSOs to sign up to. The pledge outlines the impact that the spending cuts are likely to have on the sector and declares that they are too rapid, too deep and unfair.

Signatories will pledge their support for the ‘All Together for Civil Society’ campaign, which aims to build a strong movement rooted in communities that will give a national voice to those affected by the cuts, rebut the contention that there is no alternative, and promote a vibrant and sustainable civil society.

A spokesman said: "We are really keen to hear from civil society organisations that share our concerns about the government’s programme of spending cuts and changes to key public services that we think are having a negative impact on our communities. 

"By signing up to the TUC’s campaign pledge you will be helping to build our broad based alliance, making the voice of civil society heard loud and clear."

The action plan also commits the TUC to setting up an email network to ensure communication between supporters; to establish sector-specific initiatives relevant to individual themes, and facilitate a crowd-sourcing exercise for CSOs to advise what changes they want to see and what campaigns they are undertaking.

The action plan and campaign pledge follows the first-ever joint TUC/civil society conference held at Congress House last month and comes just ahead of the national march and rally against the cuts planned for next Saturday, 26 March.

The TUC and its member unions have chartered hundreds of coaches and trains to bring protestors to London for the ‘March for the Alternative’ demonstration and the TUC has said it hopes representatives from civil society will join in.