Received from: BFAWU
Congress is concerned that with inflation standing at the highest it has been in 40 years and with food prices, alongside energy costs, at record levels, millions of people (including millions of children) are unable to meet their basic needs.
Congress believes this situation constitutes a national food emergency.
Congress asserts that there is an urgent need to organise a national food emergency summit to determine how to resource and deliver a plan to ensure every citizen in the UK can access good quality, affordable, and nutritious food.
Given that the extent of food insecurity is the result of an earnings and income crisis (not simply a cost-of-living crisis), Congress demands, in declaring a national food emergency, that the UK government and the devolved administrations work together to deliver:
i. a rise in the national minimum wage to at least £15 an hour to guarantee workers a real living wage
ii. an immediate and substantial increase to universal credit: restoring the £20 uplift, uprating benefits to keep pace with rising prices and bills, and removing the five-week wait
iii. universal free school meals for every child throughout the year
iv. a ban on zero-hour contracts to guarantee workers predictable incomes they can live on.
Congress calls on the General Council, the wider trade union movement, all political parties, religious leaders, academics, researchers, campaigners, and all the people of this country to demand that governments act now to declare a national food emergency and address the food crisis facing so many people.
Bakers, Food and Allied Workers’ Union