A TOP union official at the Grangemouth oil complex branded the plant's owners "economic terrorists" in an impassioned speech at the STUC on Monday.
Unite Amicus convener at the complex Mark Lyon moved an emergency motion calling for support for the strike at the refinery over pension rights.
He set the record straight for delegates in the face of what he called a "despicable smear campaign" against the unions in the mainstream media.
"This is an attempt by Ineos to rob our members of pension benefits and condemn future members to a retirement of abject poverty," said Mr Lyon.
"We've been accused of acting in an unsafe way in a chemical plant and nothing could be further from the truth.
"Yet who is it smearing us? Ineos - a billionaire's lunch club, aggressors in handmade suits, led by Jim Ratcliffe, the declared 'entrepreneur of the year'."
Mr Lyon pledged: "Our members will make a stand.
"We had a 98 per cent vote for strike action in a postal ballot. Hands off our pensions!" he concluded, to a standing ovation.
STUC general secretary Grahame Smith supported the motion on behalf of the general council.
He said that both the dispute - and media reporting of it - highlighted much of what was wrong in British society.
"It reveals the shameless greed of billionaires masquerading as the cutting edge of efficient management," he said.
"We are not prepared to accept the super-rich continuing to accrue wealth while the wages and conditions of our members are continually undermined."
The motion was carried unanimously.
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