BFAWU national president Ian Hodson insisted today that it is the duty of trade unions to oppose wars abroad which only make workers everywhere worse off.

Delegates gathered for the food union’s yearly conference agreed to take an explicitly anti-war position, calling on BFAWU branches to join the International anti-war conference on June 20 in London, organised in part by the Stop the War Coalition.

Referring to the US war on Iran, Mr Hodson said: “You’re all paying the price for this war.

“What we see in the news today: the consequences of the war, your food prices going up. None of it needed to happen.

“Peace is the answer, not war.”

He stressed that BFAWU must join “the rest of our comrades and the rest of the trade union movement” at the international meeting later this month.

Mr Hodson said: “We must recognise that war is not the answer to making our lives better. War will never address the hardships that we face.

“But you will face hardship because of war. You will not face hardship because of peace. And I believe it’s our duty to continue that message.”

Mr Hodson added that Britain should “have kept [its] nose out” of US President Donald Trump’s assault on Iran, but admitted that PM Sir Keir Starmer had dealt with the situation better than the Tories or Reform UK, who “wanted to go in.”

The motion, moved by the union’s executive council and passed unanimously, was seconded by delegate Muhammad Islaam, who reminded the conference that the ruling class has always used war to “oppress and exploit common people.”