BIG businesses that made billions during the pandemic need to “get real on pay,” unions demanded today as data revealed Britain faces a record-breaking wage slump.

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that workers saw their pay lag inflation over the past quarter, with regular wages — excluding bonuses — growing by just 4.7 per cent over the three months in June.

But CPI inflation hit a new 40-year record of 9.4 per cent in June and is expected to peak at around 11 per cent later this year.

The ONS said that this resulted in a 4.1 per cent drop in regular pay for workers, representing the biggest real-terms drop since records began in 2001.

GMB general secretary Gary Smith said the data shows big businesses like Amazon “must get real on pay.”

He said: “A 35p hourly rise from a company that made billions during the pandemic is a joke.

“The best way to get a proper pay rise is to join a trade union and GMB will keep fighting to make work better for our members all across the country.”

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the record fall “demonstrates the vital need for unions like Unite to defend the value of workers’ pay.”

“It also underlines the fact that — as we have said many times — wages are not driving inflation,” she said.

“We will continue to do whatever is necessary to defend jobs, pay and conditions during this cost-of-living crisis.”

The ONS data also highlighted a continued disparity between the pay growth of public and private-sector workers.

Total pay, which includes bonuses, grew by 5.9 per cent over the quarter to June in the private sector but only 1.8 per cent for public-sector employees.

The TUC tweeted that the government must boost the minimum wage, give public-sector workers a decent pay rise and cancel the increase to the energy price cap to protect workers.

Labour MP Richard Burgon said that the total wealth of Britain’s billionaires was up three-fold since 2012, adding: “Remember that when the Tories say we can’t afford to increase workers’ wages.

“There’s plenty of wealth. It’s just in the wrong hands. We need a wealth tax on extreme wealth.”

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the fall in pay against the rising cost of living was placing “further pressure on so many families, so many working people.”

“It’s one of the reasons that we announced our energy price freeze today to keep those bills down and to make the choice that the oil and gas companies in the North Sea should pay a windfall tax to help people who are struggling through this winter period,” he said.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the data was “further proof that the Tories have lost control of the economy.”

He said: “Because of the Tories’ failure on the economy, families face plummeting real wages and soaring energy bills.

“Yet this zombie government is offering no solutions to the cost-of-living crisis.

“Labour will help build a secure economy and we will freeze energy bills so that people don’t pay a penny more this winter.”

But Chancellor Nadhim Zahawi insisted the ONS figures revealing that 73,000 more people were now in employment “demonstrate that the job market is in a strong position” and praised businesses for creating new jobs.