THE labour movement must address a “worrying fall” in union membership nationwide, TUC assistant general secretary Kate Bell said today.

The ex-adviser to former Labour leader Ed Miliband told food workers in Staffordshire that “if we want to keep winning for workers, we have to be stronger.”

Despite last year seeing the biggest strike wave to sweep Britain in decades, total union membership — which stood at 13.2 million in 1979 — is estimated to have fallen by 200,000 to 6.7m last year.

Addressing the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union (BFAWU) annual conference in Stone, Ms Bell said: “We know that industrial action usually drives membership, so maybe the figures will look better this year.

“But it’s really, really worrying that, linked to the cost-of-living crisis, fewer people are choosing to join trade unions.

“That’s why the absolute priority for this year is building a stronger and more diverse union movement.”

The call echoed Sunday’s appeal from BFAWU general secretary Sarah Woolley for the labour movement to “look at ourselves,” reach out to younger workers and make unions a safe space for women and ethnic minorities.

Ms Bell also referred to the union’s recent member survey, which recorded one worker describing themselves as “cold and poor.

“What an incredible description of the UK today. We’ve gone from a pandemic, where so many of your members kept the country going and were hailed as key workers, to the so-called cost-of-living crisis where wages don’t cover living costs.”

She hailed the BFAWU, which last month launched a fight against plummeting take-home wages at the Allied Bakeries factory in Bootle, Merseyside, for embracing the “spirt of debate and being a fighting union.”