Following what NFU lead negotiator Bib
Fiddaman described as “particularly tough negotiations”, Unite has managed to
get the England and Wales Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) to award a 2.8% pay
rise for grades two and above and a 1.8% increase for grade one workers. The
new rates start on October 1st.
Having submitted a claim for 5% no-one is
celebrating. Meanwhile Unite are continuing the fight to retain the AWB, which
remains the agricultural worker’s number one weapon in defence of their pay and
conditions.
The union’s claim was based on a
well-researched paper highlighting commodity prices
showing the ‘Total Income for Farming’
(TIFF) leaped by £1.126 bn or 25% in real terms in 2011. And with over 62% of
the overall £5.5bn total coming from tax-payers’ money then not only is their
an economic case for a decent rise but a moral one. All of which has
implications for the long-term future of an industry that is failing to attract
youngsters and relies heavily on an ageing workforce.
“The outcome is disappointing, our
representatives were outvoted by the NFU and
the independent members on the board. Farm
workers are already struggling to make ends meet, often having to choose
between paying for fuel or food and this is going to make the next year a real
struggle. We were hoping for a larger increase,” said Cath Speight, Unite’s
national officer for agriculture.
The possibility of there being no AWB in
2013 threatens however to make the increase the last some of the 150,000 workers
covered under its agreement obtain for a while. That’s clearly the hope of the
Horticultural Trades Association, which has written to Defra concerned it may “have
to face these unnecessary cost increases next year.” In fields across England
and Wales farm workers will be faced with asking their employers for a rise and
there will be no legal back-up to get one.
As a result Unite has reinvigorated its
campaign to retain the AWB, which with the Welsh Assembly opposed has no
official ending date. Parliamentary procedures also require public consultation
before a final vote in the House of Commons and Lords. With the Liberal
Democrats having not included its abolition in their manifesto, Unite
Is working with their agricultural
spokesperson Andrew George to organise a meeting with the party’s MPs and
Peers.
“This is not over, we are far from
finished,” said Cath Speight “and I’d urge everyone to get involved as this is
about paying farm workers decent wages so that they can produce the food we
need to feed ourselves.”
New rates
Grade 1 – Initial Grade- £6.21 per hour
(2p above National Minimum Wage)
·
Grade 2 - Standard worker - £6.96 per hour
·
Grade 3 - Lead worker - £7.26 per hour
·
Grade 4 - Craft Grade - £8.21 per hour
·
Grade 5 - Supervisory Grade - £8.70 per hour
·
Grade 6 - Farm Management Grade - £9.40 per hour
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