A major bakery workers’ union has released a video in its campaign to up pay to £10 per hour.

The Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) has said that the “minimum wage should be increased to £10 per hour so that working people do not have to be supported with benefits”.

The union hopes to spread this message via an animation on YouTube (see below), which will be launched at a rally in Newcastle today.

Supporters are being encouraged to share the animation using the hashtag #hungryforjustice.

Ian Hodson, national president, BFAWU,said: “Over the years, we have seen business after business seizing the opportunity to cut pay and force workers to rely on state handouts.

“Businesses and companies have the ability to enrich people’s lives and make a valuable contribution to society, yet so many of them have decided to tread the path of exploitation and misery, forcing those who work for them into a cycle of debt that they will never be able to get out of.

“If that were not bad enough, the government has targeted those at the lowest end of the pay scale and systematically demonised those in need of support - the sick the disabled and the unemployed - while protecting the companies that choose to operate in a grossly immoral fashion.

“We believe that the way to improve society is to make work pay and the minimum wage should be at least £10 an hour. We don’t believe it’s pie in the sky, it’s a living wage.”