THE leader of the UK’s biggest union will tonight say its members in the NHS are prepared to go on strike even if they are accused of putting people’s lives at risk.

Christina McAnea, the Scots-born general secretary of Unison, will issue the warning as she delivers the annual Jimmy Reid Foundation lecture at Glasgow City Chambers.

Her speech will also outline the challenges and opportunities trade unions have in Scotland and the rest of the UK to “re-assert their historic role as defenders of the interests of the working class”.

Ms McAnea, 64, a former Glasgow City Council housing officer from Drumchapel, became the first female head of Unison in January last year, representing 1.3million public sector members.

She will say workers are facing “the worst economic crisis in over over a generation” and are naturally “fighting back”, with Unison running strike ballots on an unprecedented scale.

“This week, we’ve started our industrial action ballot in the NHS in Scotland – and in a couple of weeks we’re balloting in the NHS in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Unison it means, by November, we’ll be balloting almost 400,000 NHS workers.

“That’s huge - I don’t think any union has ever balloted that many.

“The sheer logistics of it are massive. And we face a real challenge in getting the vote out.

“Of course, if our NHS members vote for strike action, we will be accused of putting lives at risk.

“But I’ve been speaking to our NHS workers – nurses, ambulance workers, hospital cleaners, who say the service is already on its knees – that it’s so bad, going on strike won’t actually make it worse, but will draw attention to it.

“And I say this, as the General Secretary of the UK’s biggest union - we don’t bring members out to bring down governments. We bring them out to get results - to improve their pay and conditions.”

Ms McAnea will also stress the need for trade unions to work together to improve workers’ lives, and to ramp up their presence in sectors such as hospitality, digital and technical services, as well as growth areas such as childcare and early years education.

Ms McAnea joined the Communist party aged 15 after being “utterly inspired” at hearing the trade unionist Jimmy Reid speak in Glasgow in 1973.

Mr Reid, who died aged 78 in 2010, helped save three shipyards from government closure as part of the ‘work-in’ at Upper Clyde Shipbuilders in the early 1970s.

“Like him, I also have faith in humanity – and an unshakeable belief in the transformative power of the collective,” she will say..

“Jimmy Reid was a realist – but he never let realism dampen his optimism. And neither must we.”