The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) addressed the 48-hour walkout staged end-May by Allied Bakeries employees working at the Bootle factory, expressing support for the workers’ “fantastic” work in their move for better pay. The union recently warned that nearly a fifth of the 15,000 food workers it represents are relying on foodbanks, The Morning Star reports.

The strike comes at a time when Allied Bakeries and its parent company Associated British Foods (ABF) report profit gains, and after nearly a year of pay negotiations with the workers.

“I’ve worked Boxing Day night shifts, Saturdays, Sundays, Bank Holidays and even New Year’s Day, when the whole country apart from emergency services is off work. It doesn’t matter what day I work; I get 11.47 an hour. We don’t get bank holidays off, unless it falls that way on the shift system,” the Tribune quotes one of the workers on strike.

BFAWU published a report with the results of a survey it did among its members on this matter. IT says that, “Our 2021 survey found that the people who grow, distribute and supply our food are often unable to purchase the very food that they produce. We found that food workers experience food insecurity as they do not earn enough to feed themselves and their families. Resulting in some depending on friends and family for food, skipping meals, and eating cheaper inferior and unhealthy food with some even having to rely on food banks. This was and continues to be, a disgrace and an indictment of an economy that is not working for our members and far too many other people in this country.”

Photo: Liverpool Socialist Workers Party social media