An up-and-coming east London bakery has become the first of its kind to formally recognise a union.
On Monday, October 13, E5 Bakehouse staff achieved a landmark union recognition agreement with their employer, a first for an independent artisan bakery in London.
The agreement comes after over a year of worker-led organisation across all departments, including bakers, baristas, couriers, café staff, chefs, and kitchen porters.
Represented by the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), E5 Bakehouse employees now have a formal route to negotiate pay, hours, and working conditions.
Issy Arnold, a baker at E5 Bakehouse and member of the E5 Bakehouse union, said: "Workers in bakeries, cafés, and restaurants might think unions aren’t for them—we hope our landmark recognition agreement proves otherwise.
"At E5 we’ve built a strong union that’s already delivered real, material wins.
"We hope this sparks a wave of organising that shakes up our sector and sees workers finally valued and respected for what we do."
Union support from IWGB has already led to several achievements for E5 employees, including full pay for staff who lost shifts during an unplanned safety and maintenance closure, greater transparency in the company’s pension scheme to ensure ethical investments, and the donation of all bread sale profits on November 4 to a charity in Gaza.
Mabel Ki, also a baker and union member at E5, said: "By unionising, we’re making sure E5 practices genuine sustainability across all dimensions - social, environmental, and economic.
"Not just because we care about each other but because we care about working somewhere that has a positive impact."
Henry Chango Lopez, general secretary of the IWGB Union, said: "This agreement sets the standard for London bakeries, cafes and restaurants, forging a path forward we hope others will now follow."
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