ST MUNGO’S workers on indefinite strike staged a sit-in outside the homeless charity’s London headquarters today.

The “colourful” protest in the East End was organised to highlight how top bosses are paid nearly nine times more than front-line workers who fight against homelessness for a living, Unite the union stressed.

At least 150 staff from St Mungo’s centres in Brighton, Bristol, Oxford and the capital were thought to have taken part to “expose the stark and shameful wage inequalities” at the charity, their union added.

A “pitiful” 2.25 per cent salary rise sparked a one-month walkout at the end of May, but Unite upgraded the action to an indefinite strike earlier this week after bosses refused to budge.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Members are taking a stand against the corporatisation of this charity.

“Inside St Mungo’s corporate-style headquarters the numbers of senior managers grow and so does their pay.

“Meanwhile, the people on the front line doing the real work — supporting the homeless — are struggling to pay the rent.”

The union warned that, over the last decade, the number of senior managers earning more than £60,000 a year has increased from seven to 32.

Their wages have skyrocketed by a whopping 385 per cent in the same period as take-home salaries for front-line staff have plunged 30 per cent in real terms, Unite said.

Ms Graham described ongoing talks via conciliation service Acas as a “window of opportunity to end this indefinite strike.”

She added: “Management don’t have to perform miracles as told in the tales of St Mungo, they just have to negotiate a fair pay deal for the loyal and dedicated workers.”

The charity’s chief executive Emma Haddad has insisted that ending the “unprecedented period of industrial action remains our key priority.”