CAMPAIGN AWB/Pay equality
n By Landworker Team UNITE’S AWB FIGHT
Once upon a time in agriculture, annual pay rises were negotiated. It wasn’t perfect but it was a structure that recognised skills, took care of important conditions of service and did not leave it entirely up to the individual farmer – who now gets away with paying the minimum wage…
ENGLAND
The abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) has left many farmworkers in England on the national minimum wage, with no structure for negotiating improvements to wages and conditions.
Devolved nations have retained a form of panels or structures, which while not ideal, at least give farmworkers and their representatives a chance to argue for improvements.
The UK’s National Living Wage for adults is £12.21 an hour, while the National Minimum Wage for 18 to 20-year-olds is £10 per hour.
NORTHERN IRELAND There’s still an AWB in Northern Ireland, which recently announced new rates from April, including £12.50 an hour for a ‘standard worker’, rising to £12.73 for a lead worker, £12.98 for a craft grade, £13.37 for a supervisory grade and £13.90 for a farm management grade.
LABOUR AND THE AWB THEN YES...
Labour at a rally in October 2012 “We want …a fair wage for the people who pick and pack the food. The hand that picks the fruit should be able to afford to pay for the fruit in the supermarket”
Shadow secretary of state for the environment, food and rural affairs, Mary Creagh (current parliamentary undersecretary)
“[The loss of the AWB] will lead to £240m a year in lost pay, which will be directly transferred to the employers. We will keep fighting for a living wage. We won’t give up on this” Shadow food and farming minister, Huw Irranca-Davies
LABOUR AND THE RETURN OF THE AWB NOW NO...
NOT in the 2024 manifesto NO plans to reinstate AWB
NO plans to create anything for England as in devolved nations NO wish to take part in this interview
WALES In Wales, there is an Agricultural Advisory Panel, an independent body that advises Welsh Ministers on a so-called Agricultural Minimum Wage as well as terms and conditions of employment for agricultural, horticultural and forestry workers in Wales.
It also promotes careers in agriculture, horticulture and forestry, the development of an appropriately skilled workforce.
There are several different pay rates for farmworkers in Wales, depending on age and type of job, with an advanced worker paid £12.27 an hour and a senior worker £13.46 an hour.
SCOTLAND Here the Agricultural Minimum Wage is £12.21 for all agricultural employees – however skills allowances are also paid.
The hand that picks the fruit should be able to pay for the fruit
Mary Creagh, MP 2012
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