‘Ensuring union representation in the Senedd’: Cymru reflections with Shav Taj

As Labour candidates and activists fight for votes and support ahead of the Senedd election in May, LabourList is travelling around Wales to report on the party’s campaign so far – in what will undoubtedly be a critical election for Labour.

Alongside my colleague James Tibbitts, we continued our time in Cardiff to meet outgoing general secretary of TUC Cymru Shav Taj, who is another of Labour’s new candidates hoping to be elected to the Welsh Parliament in the Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf ‘super-constituency’.

We met Taj at a local Tesco in Adamstown, a suburb of the Welsh capital – where she spoke with a security guard, the shop’s manager and an USDAW rep about the scale of shoplifting and the abuse staff receive on a regular basis.

The trio told Taj of the prevalence of shoplifting, with “no fear factor” due to a lack of a prominent police presence, with the exception of PCSOs, described as having as much power as a “traffic warden”.

Taj explained that, although the Labour government in Westminster had passed legislation to make assaulting retail workers a standalone criminal offence as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives and Reform UK voted to block the law’s application to Wales – leaving Welsh workers with fewer protections than those in England.

“I remember when we did a big lobbying [campaign] outside the Senedd, really trying to make sure that all politicians understood exactly what people were facing, how hard it was and the fact that we needed, ultimately, the law to change.”

She hit out at politicians, particularly from Plaid, who showed support for the campaign, only to vote against the legislative consent motion for the Crime and Policing Bill.

“This is not politics. You’re playing with people’s lives here,” she said.

READ MORE: ‘Standing side by side with people’: Cymru reflections from Cardiff Bay

As we sat down at a local coffee shop, I asked what was to me the burning question – why, after so many years in the trade union movement, has she decided to make the leap to elected office?

For Taj, it’s about ensuring union voices continue to be represented in Cardiff Bay as champions of working people like Mark Drakeford retire from the Senedd.

“I’ve got the full backing of the entire union movement, including those that are not affiliated to the Labour Party, because they know that when it comes to Wales, whenever we’ve had disputes, we’ve always managed to resolve the dispute and cut a deal.

“For me, when you’ve got people who have always represented the interest of working people leaving the Senedd and standing down, in order to continue with that tradition of making sure that workers’ rights are protected, that they are factored in from the get go, then it makes sense for not only myself but also lots of others [to stand] who have union backgrounds.”

READ MORE: Senedd elections 2026: Who are Welsh Labour’s candidates?

Taj grew up in a Labour household, as the daughter of a steelworker. Her dad also served as a union rep and a proud Labour man, while her mother served the community by running an Asian women’s fabric shop.

However, Taj explains it was the death of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 that politicised her.

“When I was in high school, we started to see the BNP were organising their youth wing, and I got leafleted and it said ‘Nazis out of Cathays’. There was a PO Box number and it said if you want to get involved and stop this from happening, write to us. So me and my friend wrote to them, but they never wrote back.

“We started seeing more stuff happening, so we spoke to our teachers and we said we want to run a local campaign. We ran a campaign in the school against racism, we got in touch with the local radio station and it snowballed from there.

“But then, when Stephen Lawrence was murdered, I would go to the TUC and go on marches and became very much active in that sense.”

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Similar to her fellow candidate Huw Thomas in the neighbouring Cardiff constituency of Caerdydd Penarth, Taj said that Labour promises were holding up on the doorstep.

She stressed the importance of the election and that voting for Plaid or for Reform could jeopardise future investment for Wales.

“With Plaid, they want to finally have the big seat – but it’s not just about having the big seat, it’s about whether or not you can hit the ground running.

“You can learn so much from being in shadow government, but actually being in government and being in charge of things like the NHS – they’re two very different things.

“We’ve got a range of different things happening – but if we don’t end up in a situation where we have a Labour government in charge, then I’m really worried [about] all the investments that are currently lined up.

“There are so many new businesses, so many international companies that have recently visited Wales and they’ve been really open about it. They’ve said ‘if we don’t end up with a Labour government, we’re not sure if we are going to want to follow through on those agreements.

“There is a lot to play for, but equally, there is a lot at risk if we don’t do well in the Senedd elections.”

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