CAMPAIGNWales agricultural advisory panel


STILL FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE


Labour defeated in Wales – where does that leave the wages panel?


Unite finds itself in a fresh battle to retain the panel which helps set the pay and conditions of agricultural workers in Wales following Labour’s disastrous results in the May elections.


Plaid Cymru is now the largest party in Wales after winning 43 of the 96 seats in the Senedd – six short of a majority.


Party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is the new First Minister, and Unite is keen to find out what his party's views are on the Welsh Agricultural Advisory Panel (WAAP), which was established after the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board by the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government in 2013.


Unite has been fighting demands from the National Farmers Union (NFU) to scrap the panel, arguing it is crucial to attracting young people to the industry – arguments it is having to make all over again.


Melissa Charles-Davies was recently appointed to chair the panel for the next four years, which has given hope to Unite that it will continue.


Joanne Galazka, Unite regional women’s and equalities officer, is a passionate advocate of retaining the panel, of which she is a member, to continue its work of setting decent pay rates and improving skills and conditions for workers.


She regularly met with Labour ministers at the Senedd and will make sure she keeps the pressure on Plaid not to change the remit of the panel, although she admits, “We are in unknown territory.”


She said the new chairwoman has previously done work for the NFU, but was assured during the selection process that she will be independent.


“We assume it is business as usual and we are prepared to do whatever it takes to make sure agricultural workers in Wales have a voice,” she told the Landworker.


“We need the panel to exist well into the future to make sure increases in pay and conditions are higher in Wales than in other parts of the UK which defaults to the national minimum wage.


“We want to make sure we are not hit by a race to the bottom. Labour shortages have not gone away – in fact things are getting worse.


“Working in agriculture requires skills and a certain level of education and training, so workers deserve fair wages.


“I might be obsessed with retaining the panel, but I know the difference the panel makes to the lives of agricultural workers in Wales.”


12 uniteLANDWORKER Summer 2026


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We need the panel to exist well into the future to make sure increases in pay and conditions are higher in Wales than in other parts of the UK which defaults to the national minimum wage


Joanne Galazka, Unite Wales and


WAAP panel member


Joanne remains optimistic that the new government will realise the importance of the panel, but is worried at the lack of meetings it has held recently, albeit covering the period running up to the May elections.


Fellow Unite panel member Barrie Roberts is also optimistic, saying his biggest concern was Reform winning control of the Senedd, which it failed to do.


“Even with Plaid running a minority government I don't think things will change radically,” he told Landworker.


“We are more likely to get support than if Reform and the Conservatives had combined to run the Senedd."


He believes Unite can deal with the demise of Labour in Wales and the new chairwoman who he stresses was appointed and vetted by the previous administration.


Steve Leniec, who chairs Unite's agriculture sub-sector, said the union had been worried that if there was a delay in the appointment, it would have been easier to abolish the panel.


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