CAMPAIGN Labour in the countryside


‘DISGRACEFUL’


Where’s England’s AWB? Twelve years on, Labour remains silent about pay justice


Government ministers have been busy defending controversial plans for an agricultural inheritance tax, facing angry protests from farmers – but what about the workers?


Amid warnings that the changes to inheritance tax are a “last straw” for many, farmers across the country have staged demonstrations to get their message across.


But while the government has spent much time and effort on explaining the tax move, it is silent on a subject far more important to farmworkers – the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB), or rather, what has happened to it being reinstated in England?


Unite fears hopes of a return of the AWB has been kicked into the long grass or ditched altogether.


The board in England was abolished by the Conservatives in 2013 – at a stroke making it more difficult to negotiate pay and conditions for farmworkers across the country.


Labour openly supported Unite farmworkers at the time. Workers and Unite officials made it clear when Labour was in opposition that reinstating the AWB in England was a ‘red line’ for the union and were hopeful that action would be taken when the party won the general election.


24 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2025


But despite the early support, the present-day ministerial silence over the issue has been deafening.


Oxfordshire farmworker Steve Leniec was a member of Unite’s negotiating team on the AWB before it was abolished and knows all too well how important the board was for unions.


“It wasn’t just about setting pay and conditions; it oversaw a career structure within the industry,” Steve told Landworker.


“The structure was agreed by both sides, ensuring a path to achieving qualifications and additional pay, which benefitted young people entering the industry as well as farmers.”


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48