agricultural pay

The Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) sets pay rates for more than 150,000 rural workers in England and Wales, and is one of a number of bodies the government wants to axe once the Public Bodies Bill becomes law. This article recounts a Vote in Parliament on Tuesday on whether to take the AWB out of the remit of the Bill. The amendment to remove the AWB from the “powers to abolish” list was defeated by 296 votes 219, a majority of 77. Agricultural workers dressed as scarecrows warned of the “rural poverty” facing them should their pay and conditions deteriorate, with many carrying flags and placards saying “hands off our pay” as they protested outside Westminster. The amendment was timetabled by shadow cabinet office minister Gareth Thomas. The Labour party has a new campaigns website around ‘fairness in the countryside’ where you can sign their petition to keep the AWB: http://www.campaignengineroom.org.uk/countryside – it’s called “back the apple”! Although  Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman’s thinking is that is that agricultural workers face no detriment from being protected by the National Minimum Wage Act there are concerns that Minimum Wage will not fully protect agricultural workers. The AWB, for example, takes account of wages per grade (not just age) and sets out a raft of other allowances around accommodation, overtime, sick pay, food and care for working dogs, rest breaks and bad weather payments. However, NFU lead negotiator Bob Fiddaman has said: “we will continue to question why farming should be singled out as a sector by the presence of a unique and separate legislative structure that underpins wage bargaining and employment terms. We look forward to confirmation of the timeframe regarding the abolition of the AWB”.