By David Nicholson

HUNDREDS of union members and community campaigners crowded into a cost-of-living crisis rally in Cardiff on Thursday to build support for a health service strike ballot.

The event, organised by the Wales TUC and Unison Cymru, came after a shocking survey showed hundreds of public-sector workers in Wales have pawned possessions to survive and more than 1,000 have gone without meals.

Unison Cymru regional secretary Dominic MacAskill said: “The threat of homelessness, hunger and in-work poverty is now an everyday reality for public service workers and their families in Wales.