Cost of living: Public sector workers are forced to sleep in cars between shifts, warns union chief

Wales TUC General Secretary Shavanah Taj shares how her union members are struggling

Public sector workers are forced to sleep in their cars in between shifts amid the cost of living crisis, a union chief has said.

Shavanah Taj, General Secretary of the Wales Trades Union Congress (TUC) slammed the UK Government's budget as "Robin Hood in reverse" as people are in more debt than ever before.

She told ITV's Sharp End: "We’re hearing from people who are really struggling at this moment in time.

"We don’t know where debt management crisis begins and ends, people have started to pawn their possessions, people are turning to problem gambling in order to find a way forward.

"We’re hearing from public sector workers who are sleeping in their cars between shifts because they can’t afford the petrol - it’s either petrol or making sure you’ve got food on the table for their children.

"They feel stuck between a rock and a hard place - we’ve got to have a better plan. This government at the UK level is completely chaotic at this moment in time."

Mail workers are among those planning to strike in the coming weeks. Credit: PA

With more working people struggling to make ends meet, there are warnings the country could be heading towards a 'winter of discontent'.

Royal Mail workers will stage 19 strikes over the next two months in a deteriorating dispute over pay and conditions and train services are set to be crippled by strikes with no service at all in parts of the country.

When quizzed on whether the Conservative's rhetoric towards striking workers has become hostile, the Welsh Secretary Sir Robert Buckland MP said negotiation should be between the employer and the employee or their representatives.

The Welsh Secretary said an element of realism is needed amid pay negotiations. Credit: Sharp End

"We don’t live in an era of beer and sandwiches at No. 10," he added.

"I think we’re allowed to say that the lives of ordinary people should not be disrupted by militant action by trade unions who seem to be making a political point.

"The new transport secretary has already met the rail unions. Her appeal to the ‘family’ - as she called it - of employees of the rail industry, is a very welcome intervention.

"But the government is not ultimately the employer so I think we need an element of realism here and whilst warm words are one thing, we do need to respect the parameters of this and understand that sometimes the government is not actually the player when it comes to negotiation."

'Robin Hood in reverse' budget

To counteract record-breaking inflation, Ms Taj said the TUC wants a plan to move towards a £15 an hour minimum wage.

She said: "It was only last year that the top CEOs pay went up by 38% whilst the average worker's pay remained in the range of what it was back in 2008."

On Monday, Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng admitted his and the PM's desire to borrow billions to axe the 45% rate on earnings over £150,000 had become a “terrible distraction” in an astonishing U-turn.

Liz Truss has since refused to rule out reviving her controversial plan to cut tax for the highest earners in the future.

The General Secretary hopes for an uplift in Universal Credit and the creation of a better, greener economy and infrastructure.

She added: "We need to have a fairer funding arrangement in Wales where we can look towards our future and look towards prosperity, not further entrenched inequality that we're seeing at the moment."

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