Pay result for Wales’ farm staff

Farmworkers in Wales are set to be awarded a hefty six per cent cumulative pay rise through an Interim Agricultural Wages Order, leaving England’s agricultural workers further behind after the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) was abolished in 2013.

The Order will mean that farmworkers in Wales will be granted a 2 per cent year-on-year pay increase, after suffering a wage freeze over the last three years.

Farmworkers on Grade 1 pay will earn at least £6.72 an hour – 2p above the National Minimum Wage. This minimum rate will apply to all workers over the age of 16, while the UK-wide statutory minimum rate of £6.70 applies only to those 21 and older.

Farmworkers on all other grades will be paid above the new National Living Wage set to come into effect in April of next year at a rate of ÂŁ7.20 an hour. While agricultural workers in Wales older than 16 will reap the benefits of higher wages, the National Living Wage will only apply to workers 25 and older.

‘Good news’

Unite joint chair for the food, drink and agriculture sector Steve Leniec said the announcement was “good news for the farmworkers of Wales”.

He also pointed to it as proof for the necessity of an AWB that protects wages and terms and conditions for all of the UK’s agricultural workers, whose jobs are among the most dangerous in the country.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have retained their ability to set wage rates for farmworkers, but after the AWB’s abolishment, England’s farmworkers are governed by lower statutory national minimum wage rates.

“While this is a welcome announcement for Welsh farmworkers, their six per cent pay rise represents just how far agricultural workers in England have fallen behind,” Leniec said.

Leniec explained that after the abolishment of the AWB in England, many agricultural workers there have struggled to get by on largely frozen wages.

Erosion

“It’s also worth noting that the terms and conditions that the AWB protected have been eroded too – we’ve seen an erosion in holiday pay for workers as well as in sick pay,” he said. “The AWB set minimum standards for accommodation, too.

“Without the AWB – and with only the Gangmasters Licencing Authority to oversee minimum standards for housing farmworkers – this has no doubt had a large impact on migrant workers, who are especially at risk of exploitation.”

A Farmer’s Guardian survey published last month showed widespread alarm about the effect the AWB’s abolishment in England.

One in three farmworkers surveyed said they had experienced a decline in their wages since the dissolution of the AWB, while one in three respondents also said they felt compelled to leave the industry soon.

And a full 70 per cent reported that the abolishment of the wages board would have a negative impact on the agricultural industry as a whole.

Leniec criticised the National Farmers Union, which has lobbied for an exemption for farmers from paying their workers the new statutory National Living Wage, set to come into effect at ÂŁ7.20 an hour from April of next year and rise to ÂŁ9 an hour by 2020.

Condemned

He condemned farmers who say they cannot afford to pay their workers sustainable wages because prices are at low point.

“It’s true that agricultural commodity prices are quite low at the moment, but they’ve certainly been much lower,” he said. “And if you look beyond this year to the past two or three years, prices were actually pretty good.

“This is the same old tired excuse they trot out every time,” he added. “The fact of the matter is that the AWB protected farmworkers from employers not willing to pay their employees a decent wage – without the board, wages, terms and conditions will inevitably be eroded.”

The devolved Welsh government retained its wages board for agricultural workers after it secured its right to set wage rates in a Supreme Court ruling.

The current interim order that set the latest wage rates for farmworkers in Wales will be replaced by an independent Agricultural Advisory Panel, whose members are now being selected and will include representation from Unite.

The panel, which should be fully operational by next year, will be responsible for preparing draft wages for farmworkers and will also advise Ministers on agricultural matters.

Leniec held up Wales and its retention of an agricultural wages board as a prime example of what a Labour government can accomplish on behalf of working people.

“It’s important to reflect on the fact that it was a Labour government in Wales that has preserved wages and terms and conditions for its more than 14,000 farm workers,” he said.

The Labour Party pledged in the run-up to this year’s general election that it would restore the Agricultural Wages Board in England – a move that Unite continues to push for.