“
We managed to see past the Rent Act 1977 that meant from then on, workers in tied cottages assumed the status of “protected occupants”
Tony Gould, ex-NUAW, Unite Tolpuddle branch chair
” Tony Gould Barry Leathwood
large farm were NUAW members but which, nevertheless, the employer refused to recognise.
His employer, who three months earlier had told him that his job and trade union activities were incompatible, showed Tony no mercy and sacked him. Fortunately, the NUAW then stepped in with a favourable grant to allow him to study at Ruskin College, Oxford. Just before completing his degree, he became the Kent NUAW District Officer in June 1975. He remained a union official for 30 years and even today is active as the branch secretary of the Tolpuddle Unite branch.
“I was delighted to represent farm and rural workers. One of the major struggles was opposing tied cottages that led to numerous cases of workers who’d lost their jobs, often for no real reason, who were then summarily evicted from their homes. We’d try, occasionally successfully, to stop this by mounting immediate protests, which generally attracted press coverage, or by helping find new
accommodation.
“But it also required political action. Thanks, in a large part to the tireless, heroic efforts of Joan Maynard, helped by the fact she subsequently became an MP in 1974. She was from a rural background. We managed to see past the Rent (Agricultural) Act 1977, that meant from then on workers in tied cottages assumed the status of “protected occupants”.
From then onwards those in tied cottages had security of tenure until they were re-housed by the local council.
Like Tony, Barry Leathwood was delighted by the passing of the 1977 Act, especially “as it was something the NUAW campaigned for over many decades”.
Leathwood was born on a farm and thrust as a youngster into helping out his dad, a Cheshire NUAW district official, collect members subs by cycling round to local farms. Even after he qualified as a mechanical engineer
27 uniteLANDWORKERSpring 2024 Chris Kaufmann Joan Maynard
and became active within the AEU, Barry, with help from his wife Ann, retained his involvement by assisting NUAW members after his father suffered a heart attack.
In October 1973 Barry became the NUAW District Officer in Somerset which had a few large farms that included one large mushroom farm of 1,200 employees. “This meant we could create a traditional bargaining unit of shop stewards and win wages and conditions way above the norm across the industry. It was the forerunner to the TGWU and Unite being able to organise within poultry processing plants”.
Barry was also able to recruit farm workers aware that their bosses would never give them a pay rise except for the AWB’s existence. “And they knew too that the NUAW had managed to establish pay increases for craft workers of 15 per cent plus through the board.
“Later on, when the Tories sought to abolish the board in the ‘90s a
Clifford Harper
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