RMT General Secretary Mick Lynch has called for "uprising" from workers this winter with a wave of coordinated walkouts.
The rail union boss added fuel to mounting calls for mass industrial action as key workers, including teachers, nurses and midwives, face formal strike ballots.
He warned that the Tories will "cling on like slime" and try to paint trade unions as the "enemy".
Trade unions are gearing up for a showdown with the Government over pay and working conditions in what could be the biggest wave of industrial action for more than a decade.
Motions calling for coordinated action between striking unions are expected to be heard on Wednesday at the TUC's annual gathering in Brighton.
Unions bosses are already in talks about how to join forces, Unite chief Sharon Graham and Unison General secretary Christina McAnea have said in recent days.
While this stops short of a "general strike", Ms Graham warned that more than one million workers could walk out this winter if the Government continues to resist calls for pay hikes.
At a PCS fringe event in Brighton, Mr Lynch said: "We need an uprising. We need a whole wave of synchronised, coordinated action... I don't care what it's called and I don't care if [TUC leaders] Paul Nowak or Frances [O'Grady] are the ones to coordinate it - as long as they don't get in the way.
"We can get on with it ourselves frankly."
The straight-talking union leader, who came to prominence during summer rail strikes, warned that the Tories would try to cling on until the next election.
He said: "They will cling on like slime, like bacteria or whatever it is. They will cling on and they will come for us again.
"They will try to make us the enemy."
RMT announced three days of strikes next month after accusing Network Rail of trying to "impose" changes on staff.
Walk outs will now take place on Network Rail on November 3, 5 and 7, the union said yesterday(TUES).
RMT members will take separate strike action on London Underground and Overground networks (Arriva Rail London) on November 3.
PCS boss Mark Serwotka warned that the stakes are "incredibly high".
“If we do not win, we are going to see the worst, most desperate winter working men and women will have gone through in this country for many years," he said.
"People will die of malnutrition, people will die of hypothermia, people will die on our streets."
Mr Serwotka, whose union represents 150,000 civil servants, said members stood ready to strike alongside workers in other sectors if they win their ballots.
TUC General Secretary Frances O'Grady said "bring it on" over strike action this winter.
In her final address to congress as TUC leader, she said: "It wasn't wages or workers who caused this crisis and we refuse to let workers pay for it.
"People ask me 'Will the TUC coordinate strike action this winter?' And I say 'We already are'."
She accused the Tories of pursuing a "pro greed" agenda and said workers were being pushed to breaking point by the "longest squeeze on real wages" in modern history.
Ms O'Grady said workers are on course to suffer two decades of lost living standards and face a loss in real earnings of £4,000 over the next three years.
And she demanded a general election to get rid of the "whole rotten Tory government".
