A new report into the cost-of-living pressures facing Bakers Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) members has revealed that most are struggling to make ends meet.
The survey by the trade union – which follows similar research conducted in 2021 and 2023 – asked members how they and their families are managing in the lead up to Christmas. It found that six out of 10 workers said their wages were insufficient to meet their basic needs like food and energy.
Nearly half (46%) of the 349 respondents noted they were fearful of running out of money for food, with almost 10% revealing they regularly didn’t have enough to feed everyone or never had enough.
The data also showed a decrease in food security over the past four years. When asked if there had been a time when they ate less due to lack of money, 65% of the latest survey said yes compared to 60% in 2023 and only 40% in 2021.
Around 42% of the 2025 workers had needed to depend on family or friends to feed themselves at least once in the past, versus 33% in 2023 and 25% in 2021. Those requiring help from food banks had risen too, up from 7.5% four years ago to its current 21%.
More than two-thirds (46%) of those interviewed this year admitted they wouldn’t be able to eat what they wanted during Christmas festivities, and 56% said they wouldn’t be able to provide everything for their family.
Meanwhile, the respondents who were actively trying to reduce their home heating and energy usage to save money remained unchanged at 88% from 2023 to 2025. Half (50.1%) of the BFAWU member survey said they were dreading the winter in case they couldn’t afford to heat their homes.
Union boss slams government
“This is the third of our food insecurity and cost of living reports, it is the most disappointing one yet and makes for grim reading,” commented BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley. “Rather than the challenges facing our members improving under the new Labour government this report shows the pressures are either impacting the same number of our members or they are getting worse, with nine out of 10 of our members feeling that the government is not doing enough to help them.”
Woolley reminded that the unions members were not unemployed and were working hard day in and day out to provide the food for the country. “It makes me angry that so many are dreading the winter and won’t be able to eat what they want at Christmas,” she added.
She appealed to the UK government, as well as the devolved administrations and councils, to do more to end this ongoing cost of living crisis facing BFAWU members and other food workers. “As a country we have to do better and that means doing much more to help and support those struggling,” she said. “It is not bond markets who grow, produce and serve our food it is working class people and the sooner we start to look after them the better for the country.”
According to its website, the BFAWU is only independent trade union operating within the UK food industry and has been representing workers since 1847. It has members employed at manufacturers including Warburtons, Allied Bakeries, Geary’s Bakeries (producer of Jason’s Sourdough), Bright Blue Foods, and Burtons Biscuits, as well as bakery retail chains such as Greggs and Gail’s.
No comments yet