Trade Unionists, MSPs and lawyers are challenging the impartiality of a major review of the civil justice system which is being conducted by Scotland's most senior judge, Lord Gill, the Lord Justice Clerk.
The STUC has called a conference - 'Civil Injustice in Scotland', in Glasgow for later today to launch a campaign to make the review more inclusive.
Grahame Smith STUC General Secretary said: "The trade unions have a long and proud history of using the Civil Courts as a means of securing justice for our members and improving the health and safety environment within our workplaces.
"But we believe the Civil Justice Review being undertaken by Lord Gill, is fundamentally flawed because it seeks to exclude important health and safety cases from the Court of Session and promotes the idea that our supreme court and our senior judges should only be used for commercial actions.
"The only way to counter this flawed process to launch our own campaign to ensure that Lord Gill engages with the Trade Unions as part of his review."
MSP Pauline McNeil, Labour's Spokesperson on Justice said: "I thought the whole idea of a Civil Justice review was to make our courts more accessible and affordable for ordinary people...but the opposite seems to be the case.
"If anything the Review seems to be heading down the road of making civil courts more elitist, and the exclusion of any trade union representation from the panel is simply not acceptable.
Dave Watson, Senior Regional Officer, Unison said: "Far from improving access to justice, this review appears to be aimed at undermining workers right to achieve effective remedies, when injured at work."
Frank Maguire Senior Partner with Thompsons the trade union law firm said: "Lord Gill seems to be falling into the trap of regarding those seeking access to our courts as 'consumers', by including the Consumer Council on his review panel, but excluding the entire trade union movement.
"Ordinary people like the families of the Stockline or someone dying from an industrial disease or infected with blood products, aren't consuming anything.
"They are turning to the courts to exercise their right to justice, and the trade union movement must ensure Lord Gill takes account of their views."
John Quigley, Unite's Regional Secretary said: "The trade union movement should be one of the main stakeholders at the heart of Lord Gill's review."