{"id":28128,"date":"2021-03-19T15:29:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-19T15:29:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=28128"},"modified":"2021-03-19T15:30:01","modified_gmt":"2021-03-19T15:30:01","slug":"unite-challenges-plans-to-abolish-ni-agricultural-wages-board","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=28128","title":{"rendered":"Unite challenges plans to abolish NI agricultural wages board"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Agriculture Minister Poots, a member of the Ulster Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Union, has been challenged by Unite over compliance with the Ministerial Code of Conduct over his decision to deliver on longstanding UFU priority \u00e2\u20ac\u201c abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite has warned that the abolition of AWB will give the green light to employers exploiting highly vulnerable agricultural workers, many of whom are migrant workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unite regional officer Sean McKeever, explained that at a meeting of the body at the end of last week, his union had called on the Minister for Agriculture Edwin Poots to clarify that his proposal to abolish the AWB in Northern Ireland was not a breach of the Ministerial Code of conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bAt last Friday\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s meeting of the Agricultural Wages Board representatives of the Ulster Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Union, who sit on the body and represent the employers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 side, once again confirmed their longstanding demand for the body\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s abolition,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Keever said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe representative of Unite the union responded by questioning how Agriculture Minister Edwin Poot\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to abolish the body was not therefore a potential conflict of interest \u00e2\u20ac\u201c given his membership of the UFU. Mr Poots must now explain how his intervention on this matter is not a breach of the Ministerial Code of Conduct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe Agricultural Wages Board has existed in one form or another since 1939 and has been recognised as playing a vital role by governments of every persuasion since that time,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Keever continued. Despite the closure of this body by the Tories in England, regional governments in Wales and Scotland see the need for its retention in those nations \u00e2\u20ac\u201c why not here in Northern Ireland?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a particular need for a collective bargaining body covering agricultural field workers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he added. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThere is a strategically vital need to attract workers to ensure food protection, particularly post-Brexit; agriculture is a sector which receives huge amounts of public funds; and one in which it is inherently difficult for unions to organise given the scattered distribution of workers and the prevalence of temporary and part-time working. Agricultural field workers need particular protections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe AWB doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t just set a minimum wage for agricultural field workers, but provides basic guarantees on breaks, time off and guarantees overtime rates,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Keever went on to say. “This is of vital importance in countering exploitation \u00e2\u20ac\u201c especially as many are migrant workers with little other protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are fearful that the abolition of the AWB will give the green light to rapacious employers to ratchet further the exploitation of agricultural field workers,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he noted. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bWe are committed to fight the abolition of this body which provides last ditch protection against the exploitation of vulnerable agricultural workers, which all too often includes the practice of trafficking and modern day slavery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite has written to the leaders of all political parties to request that they signal their intent to oppose this move. As yet, we haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t had a reply from any of them. We are calling on them to come off the fence on this issue and stand behind the agricultural field workers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in their fight for basic protections.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Donal O\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Cofaigh<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Agriculture Minister Poots, a member of the Ulster Farmers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 Union, has been challenged by Unite over compliance with the Ministerial Code of Conduct over his decision to deliver on longstanding UFU priority \u00e2\u20ac\u201c abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) in Northern Ireland. Unite has warned that the abolition of AWB will give the green light […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3948,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[1603,42,40,219],"wps_subtitle":"Unite: Agriculture Minister Edwin Poots must clarify whether his decision to abolish AWB is a conflict of interest","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28128"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28128"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28132,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28128\/revisions\/28132"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}