Do unions speak for the British people when opposing cuts?‏

Newsweek, the US current affairs magazine, is reporting on the response of UK trade unions to the Con Dem austerity measures: Unsurprisingly, from the vantage point of the poll saturated and superficial polity of the USA, the magazine counter poses the supposed public support for cuts (based on the evidence of opinion polls) to the ‘cautious’ union opposition, arguing that unions have been sidelined as a political force in the UK. It is a thesis which will be tested once and for all time over the next few years.
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/10/22/britain-s-unions-cautious-about-austerity-measures.html