Women in Unison would probably sum up the agenda that they face at the moment in three words - austerity, austerity, austerity.

That sums up the problems they face as workers and in their day-to-day struggles.

These problems are deeply intertwined, as the problems of working life impact hugely on living standards and on the services that they are being denied as the Tory cuts impact.

Public service workers, to restate a truth that cannot be repeated often enough, were not the cause of the financial crisis that rocked the world in 2008 but have seen their pay cut through successive pay freezes as prices continually rise.

To illustrate the extent of these difficulties consider local government. From the start of the pay freeze, an average 17 per cent drop in real income has been the experience, while pay generally is lower in purchasing power than it was in 1997.

For over a million local government workers their hourly rate is below the living wage and for many women that problem will be compounded by the fact that they work part-time hours.

University workers are currently taking strike action over low pay and the problem is a general one throughout the public sector.

Add to that the problem of zero-hours contracts. The predominantly female workforce in the social care sector has become only too familiar with the endemic low pay that comes along with that as well as the insecurity of employment that it offers.

Decent social care will only be a reality when a well trained workforce is employed on decent contracts that pay a fair wage for the range of skills that care workers need to offer. Until all of the demands of the Unison Social Care Charter are met that day is unlikely to be tomorrow.

But the problems of the social care sector are a good illustration of the way in which public services are privatised at the expense of workers' wages, terms and conditions.

An end to low pay, a commitment to fair pay and a realisation that running services for private-sector profit is good neither for the workforce or those who depend on services have to be our political priorities.

As pay is cut, Unison members are not immune to other cuts that are taking place across society. Like other low-paid workers many Unison members depend on tax credits to bring them up to a decent standard of living.

Many have also seen that source of income cut as the coalition slashes welfare on the pretext of getting at "skivers" while ignoring the fact that it is the living standards of those in work that they are affecting.

Nor have they been immune to the effects of the bedroom tax or other changes in housing benefit that have seen booming levels of homelessness or ordinary workers facing the heat-or-eat dilemma.

Disabled workers report that changes to the allowances that enabled them to use the services that facilitated employment will mean that their prospects of remaining in work are narrowing. The sheer short-termism of the measures that are being enforced is vast, saving pennies from the welfare bill at the huge cost of human misery.

All of this adds up to a crisis of living standards. If the Labour Party really wants to win votes it needs to wholly embrace the agenda that will really tackle the appalling levels of inequality that exist in society, rather than apologetically talking about repealing some legislation - and that means talking about tax rises at the top as well as a living wage at the bottom.

Let's not forget that the services that public-sector workers provide are also the services that public-sector workers rely on.

Not many health service workers have private health care. But the crisis in NHS care is a crisis that affects all of us.

Few education workers sent their children to Eton. Tory policy under Education Secretary Michael Gove sees local authority education decimated while middle-class enclaves are entitled to pass go and set a free school for their beloved offspring.

Local services are disappearing, from meals on wheels to leisure facilities. It is ridiculous to talk of an Olympic legacy in a country where public swimming pools will soon be a thing of the past and where libraries are closed or run by well-meaning volunteers with the stock that Oxfam rejects.

Cuts are not an abstract in a budget line but a withdrawal of the social wage that provided a levelling-up for the working class of this country.

The women's agenda is an agenda that tackles a class perspective on austerity and it is only through this that the women of Unison will see their lives improved.

Jane Carolan is a Scottish member of Unison's national executive council and chairs the NEC policy committee.