n By Hajera Blagg


The motion called on Unite to press the government to urgently build new houses for rural workers; to stop the discounting and sell-off of social housing; to introduce new rent controls; and to protect security of tenure for workers and their families living in tied housing once they retire or are made redundant. The motion also demanded a tightening of ‘change of use’ planning regulation to ensure the continued provision of agricultural and forestry workers’ housing, and to reinstate the tied housing provisions of the 2012 Agricultural Wages Board order in England.


Unite delegate Ivan Monckton seconded the motion and spoke passionately in defence of affordable rural housing. He highlighted that where he lives in mid-Wales, homes are going up for sale for half a million pounds or more.


Unite Tolpuddle branch chair John Burbidge moved the motion on lack of affordable rural housing, noting that “former agricultural and forestry tied cottages are become even more scarce as landowners sell them off or let them out as Airbnbs, netting huge capital gains, as tied housing values were hugely discounted as business assets and subject to rent controls”.


John highlighted how tied housing was a lifeline for agricultural and forestry workers, and that it served as a form of ‘social housing’. He decried their decline and misappropriation by employers, adding that tied housing “has always helped animal and crop care, local community and cut travel costs and time”.


He added, “The countryside is becoming more and more, a place for very wealthy people or for people enjoying holidays. That’s not a real community anymore. People need to live close to where they work – we’re social beings.”


“The house that I rented 20 years ago, when I moved out – this was a house without water, two up, two down – it was sold for a vast fortune, more than I would earn in my lifetime,” he said. “It’s since been turned into a mansion that is not lived in full-time. The house next door is another holiday home. The whole village is being taken up by second homes of wealthy people, who move from the city to work from home in the countryside. Now the people who actually work in the countryside have no other option to but move to the towns.”


Ivan went on to move the second motion on the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) and expressed anger that the new Labour government has so far failed to do what it had promised - reinstate the AWB in England.


Mark Heaysman, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, seconded the motion, noting, “As an ex- agricultural worker, we always had the wages board – we knew where we stood and knew what pay we would get. There were no ifs, ands or buts – the farmer couldn’t back down. It backed us up and made it a fairer system.”


Later in the discussion, Unite delegate Jag Bazaz perfectly summed up the day. Speaking in response to an earlier delegate noting that agricultural workers often feel


11 uniteLANDWORKER Winter 2024 Mark Heaysman


Ivan Monckton


they are alone with the issues they face, Jag said, “You are not alone – you’re part of the bigger FDA family, and we all stand together.”


FDA delegates joined delegates in other sectors in a morning plenary session, when union leaders including Unite general secretary Sharon Graham gave speeches.


The general secretary gave a wide- ranging address to delegates, highlighting how it is winning for members across sectors with its laser focus on jobs, pay and conditions. She emphasised too how Unite has built up a prodigious strike fund to support its members.


Highlighting the importance of the strike fund, she said, “If we can’t support our members in struggle, what is the point of being union? I promised when I was elected that I will always support our members, especially those in dispute in every single way that I can. That includes not allowing Unite members being starved back to work.”


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The countryside is becoming more and more, a place for very wealthy people or for people enjoying holidays. That’s not real community anymore


John Burbidge, Unite Tolpuddle brach chair


All photos: Mark Thomas


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