FOOD workers marked the tenth anniversary of a historic win against the imposition of zero-hour contracts at Hovis today, saying the dispute displayed solidarity at its best.

Following strikes at the bakery’s factory in Wigan during the summer of 2013, bosses were forced to U-turn on bringing in agency staff on zero-hour contracts in the wake of redundancies and cuts to pay and hours.

The groundbreaking industrial action, organised by the Bakers, Food & Allied Workers Union (BFAWU), helped to inspire similar walkouts at previously non-unionised branches of food-fast giant McDonalds and pub chain Wetherspoons.

Addressing the opening day of the union’s five-day annual conference in Staffordshire, BFAWU member John Fox, who helped organise the Hovis fightback, said: “This strike was never about money, it was about people. We did not want anyone to become a second-class citizen.”

He hailed the successful organising of picket lines that disrupted supplies during the dispute, saying it meant that “nothing, and I mean nothing, got in or out of those gates.

“The police that were there tried to push us forward, but we wouldn’t budge: it was solidarity at its best.”

Mr Fox also praised the support from the local community and other unions, including Unite and GMB, which “strengthened our resolve.

“Let [fellow unionists] know your struggles because they will help you.”

To rapturous applause at the Yarnfield Park conference centre in Stone, he said: “When we stick together, we all win together.”

The union, which was founded in Manchester in 1847, represents about 15,000 food workers in Britain and Northern Ireland.