UNIONS must be prepared to break the law and strike if Tory ministers follow through on threats to effectively ban industrial action, bakers’ union national president Ian Hodson said today.

In a rousing speech to BFAWU’s annual conference in Staffordshire, the leftwinger warned that the difference between a worker and a slave is the “right to remove your labour: if you can’t strike, you are no more than a slave.”

The proposed Strikes (Minimum Service Levels) Bill could empower bosses and even ministers to force striking workers to cross their own picket lines and provide an as yet undefined minimum service level in six key industries, including health, transport and education.