Tony Blair has been warned that trade unions will not "keep their gobs shut for Labour".

The stark warning came as the prime minister prepared to address the TUC on the opening day of its annual conference on Monday.

Unions told the government that it must stop giving in to business and warned that more must be done to protect workers rights.

In his address to delegates TUC chief Brendan Barber said: "When I addressed Labour's National Policy Forum earlier this year I said what was missing from Labour's second term was any sense of a comprehensive programme for the workplace. We must change that for the third term."

But he added that the deal reached at the meeting in Warwick had moved union-government feelings into a better stage of their "love-hate relationship".

"I think that the programme put together in Warwick has made us more at ease with each other than for some time," Barber said.

"Best of all, it has given us a new sense of common purpose and a confidence that we can make sure of progress towards our goals."

Hardline

However amid the threat of strike action in the civil service, union bosses are delivered a hardline message to the Labour leader.

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union, said the government had to deliver on its promise of "fairness not favours".

"We are still waiting for our fairness, although the bosses are getting plenty of favour," he said.

"Millions of working people would be delighted to hear Tony Blair announce that the repressive anti-union laws are to be replaced with a labour code that brings Britain back in from the cold.

"Just about everybody would be over the moon to hear him announce that transport and the other privatised services and utilities were coming back into public hands and the world would be relieved to hear him admit that the war against Iraq was a colossal mistake."

Meanwhile Tony Woodley of the TGWU said Labour should step back from controversial policies such as foundation hospitals.

"The last thing we want is people moving into areas that are vote losers not vote winners. What we want is support for pensions and manufacturing because these are very important issues," he said.

And Dave Prentis of the Unison union warned that unions would not "keep their gobs shut" in the months leading up to the general election.