FEATURE Gold medals galore
n By Hajera Blagg
‘PUNCHING ABOVE OUR WEIGHT’
Landworker is delighted to announce that Unite Food, Drink and Agriculture (FDA) sector has awarded three of its leaders gold medals for their years of service to the sector and the wider union.
The gold medals – the highest honour agricultural trade unionists can receive in Unite – were awarded ahead of the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival to John Burbidge, Ivan Monckton and Sue Longley upon their retirement.
Farmworker John Burbidge has served for many years as chair of the Unite Tolpuddle branch in Dorset and has also represented Unite on the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)’s Agricultural Industry Advisory Committee (AIAC). He has also long played a leading role in the Unite FDA National Industrial Sector Committee (NISC).
Countryside contractor and Unite activist Ivan Monckton has likewise been a leading light on the FDA NISC. He’s also served on the Executive Council (EC) of both Unite and its predecessor union TGWU for more than three decades, among other roles.
Most recently, Sue Longley has served as general secretary of the International Union of Food Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' (IUF) since 2017.
Before she joined the IUF Sue was editor of the Landworker.
Unite agricultural chair Steve Leniec presented the awards to John, Ivan and Sue following an FDA NISC meeting, which was held at the Shire Hall where it all started – in the very same courtroom where the Tolpuddle Martyrs’ were sentenced for their crimes.
Accepting his award, John called it a “real surprise”.
“I’ve always been passionate about farming,” he said. “Especially about the situations people face, growing up in villages where people aren’t paid properly, or treated properly – all the inequalities that people face. There’s still so much that needs to be done, and we need to continue that work.”
In his acceptance speech, Ivan recalled some memorable moments from his many decades in Unite and the TGWU.
“Agricultural workers are among the most downtrodden group of workers in the world – that’s a fact,” he said. “But we stand together, and we’ve always fought together, and we’ve always punched above our weight.”
Sue likewise looked back with pride on her time working for the IUF and Unite, including in her role as Landworker editor.
“The thing that really aggravates me and motivates me to continue to work for the [food and agriculture] sector is that the workers we represent along with small farmers…are often overlooked and regarded as just dispensable,” she said. “And yet this group of people feeds the world, and we must always remember that.”
The award winners all received a standing ovation from the FDA NISC at the Shire Hall in Dorchester, in a fantastic prelude to the Tolpuddle festivities to come.
36 uniteLANDWORKER Spring 2026
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