agriculture: poverty for farm workers
WORKERS, MAY 2003 ISSUE
FARM WORKERS are still among the lowest paid in the country, despite increasing mechanisation and productivity. The Agricultural Wages Board award to run from July 2003 has done nothing to change this, at a time when pressure on housing and other facilities is driving workers away from the industry. The AWB imposed an inflation-only 15-month settlement.
This gives skilled farm workers £6 an hour, a rise of 23 pence. The standard rate will be just £5.15 pence an hour, with the harvest workers' rate at £4.50. That is barely above the minimum, in an industry notorious for casual and illegal labour.
The AWB is a body set up to reach agreement on wages without disputes. It includes supposedly independent members, as well as those for unions and employers. The Transport & General Workers Union feels that its representations have not been considered seriously.
Workers in the industry have made many concessions during a difficult period. Foot and mouth may be over but price pressure from the processing industry and imports continues.
The TGWU is the largest union among the 150,000 workers covered by the AWB. Even so it recognises the need to recruit and organise to challenge the decision.
Peter Allenson from TGWU said, “The concessions we made have not been repaid. We do not want to see a drain of workers from the countryside but the feelings of anger and frustration cannot be underestimated. The T&G is determined to re-double our efforts to win the hearts and minds arguments and organise to win for our members.”
The TGWU sees comparisons with the recent construction industry award of a basic £9 an hour. That represented a 23% rise in response to skill shortages.