n By Mark Metcalf


Kenyan tea farms was featured in the 2024 Landworker Summer edition. This followed a Panorama programme in 2023.


International trade agreements can also influence labour standards, wage levels and job security whilst policies on food safety, animal welfare, and agricultural practices affect the whole of the sector.


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“Agriculture is also particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, with rising temperatures and unpredictable weather conditions more frequent,” states Bev.


To end child poverty, we need to end adult poverty and to do this we need to stop the exploitation of workers in the sector brought about by the global supermarkets


Bev Clarkson, Unite national officer and


president, IUF agricultural workers trade group


“Extreme weather patterns threaten yields and crops. Unite members in agriculture are directly affected because extreme weather can lead to income instability and job insecurity.”


This was highlighted in the 2024 Summer Landworker in articles on rain, the heaviest over the previous 18 months since records began, and heat with the UK recording the hottest day ever in 2022. Similar weather patterns can be found worldwide – leading to scores of Californian farmworkers dying - and clearly need to be tackled internationally if the world is not to face a catastrophic scenario.


“This involves working with unions globally to tackle shared challenges such as seasonal labour, exploitation and climate change,” she says.


Bev works closely with the Unite FDA executive council (EC) delegates along with the National Industrial Sector Committee (NISC) members on all these policies with Unite having delegates holding various seats within the IUF.


According to Bev it is important that Unite takes a leading role in the IUF because it “represents workers worldwide across food and agriculture sectors heavily represented by Unite. Actively participating helps Unite build a unified front to address challenges that are often shared across borders”.


The shared challenges include workers in food, drink and agriculture being vulnerable to working conditions, low wages and, in some cases, exploitation in the global supply chain. One such case where Unite worked with trade union affiliates within the IUF to put an end to abhorrent sexual abuse on


Bev hopes to see the IUF achieve many things over the next few years including strengthening global labour rights, improving wages and reducing wage inequality, enhancing health and safety standards, promoting job security, dealing with exploitation in the workplace and supply chain, strengthening union solidarity and concluding global policies for gender equality and anti-discrimination.


Migrant workers in the UK play a major role in food production. Many arrive having never previously been in a trade union. “They are vulnerable to exploitation, more so within the agriculture sector, where many workplaces are remote with the whole of the workforce also being migrant workers. They face issues such as underpayments, excessive hours, unsafe working conditions and poor housing.


“Clearly without union support, workers lack an organised way to address grievances, negotiate wages and secure any working benefits. The work migrants often do is of a precarious nature such as zero hours and seasonal work and this can be very challenging.”


31 uniteLANDWORKER Winter 2024


Bev continues, “In many places we have been successful in organising migrant workers especially within the meat sector. Our reps within the sector are now delegates not only in the UK but also within the IUF,” states Bev proudly.


Worldwide, the majority of child labour, affecting 112m boys and girls, often in countries with high poverty levels and little access to education, is found in agriculture including farming, fishing, cocoa and sugar cane production to name just a few.


Bev identifies Africa and South Asia as having the highest rate of child labour in agriculture, “although developed countries also see cases especially across migrant labour communities. This is invisible labour due to informal working arrangements and lack of regulation in rural areas”.


She identifies how the global demand for cheap inexpensive food encourages the use of cheap child labour.


“This starts at the top with the food retailers pushing down the prices throughout the supply chain. To end child poverty, we need to end adult poverty and to do this we need to stop the exploitation of workers in the sector brought about by the global supermarkets.”


Can members who don’t work in the food, farm, hotels, restaurants and fast-food sectors back the efforts of the IUF?


“Yes,” she replies. “They can actively take part in joint campaigns organised by the IUF, support global days of action, lobby for ethical standards, putting pressure on multinationals that often have head offices in the UK to adopt collective bargaining rights across the whole supply chain.”


FIND OUT MORE


For information on all the latest joint Unite/IUF campaigns – including Safe workplaces for fast food workers, Growing justice – workers fight for good jobs on Fyffes farms, Coca-Cola’s human rights violations see www.iuf.org


All photos: Alamy


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