Bakers union boss suspended from Labour Party

Draper, a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn, announced on Twitter that he had been suspended from the Labour Party.

Just been suspended from the Labour Party, a member most of my life. Democracy in action @jeremycorbyn@NSSN_AntiCuts@resistunite#bfawu

— Ronnie Draper (@Ronniebfawu) August 25, 2016

He said he was “disgusted and in shock”​ when he received his suspension letter, reported ITV News​. Draper added that the Labour Party decided to suspend him following something he wrote on social media.

‘Disgusted and in shock’​

The Labour Party told FoodManufacture.co.uk that it couldn’t comment on individual memberships.

Draper and Corbyn had both visited Greggs’s bakery distribution centre in Enfield just over a week ago (August 16), to engage workers and managers in the party’s Workplace 2020 consultation.

The BFAWU – Britain’s largest independent trade union in the food sector – declared its backing for Corbyn in June 2016.

The union said: “Since Jeremy Corbyn was elected as leader in September 2015, the Labour Party now represented and supported the aspirations of our members, working in the food industry.”​

‘The aspirations of our members’​

Meanwhile, the BFAWU recently organised a protest outside a Marks & Spencer (M&S) store in Cardiff, in response to the 2 Sisters Food Group proposed changes to employment terms​ for workers at its RF Brookes factory. The protest on July 30 was part of a long running dispute between RF Brookes – which makes ready meals for M&S – and the BFAWU.

The union also planned a protest outside an M&S store in Leicester on the same day. The Leicester protest was held to encourage the public to boycott the Samworth Brothers​ products sold there.

The union claimed to have obtained evidence of a “bullying” ​letter being circulated among Samworth’s Kettleby Foods site, in a bid to sign away staff collective bargaining rights.