Northern Ireland farm workers receive pay boost thanks to Agricultural Wages Board

 UNITE the union Landworker magazine Summer 2025 article 

Unite reps on the Northern Ireland Agricultural Wages Board have helped push up the minimum wage rates for Northern Ireland agricultural workers from 1 April.

Standard grade 2 workers have been the biggest beneficiaries with their hourly rate rising from £8.62 to £12.50, just 10 pence an hour below the real Living Wage to which thanks to union pressure, the department of agriculture, environment and rural affairs (DAERA) has been forced to announce they are working towards adopting.

 “This is a good move as the Living Wage Foundation’s norms standards is the only UK wage rate independently calculated, based on the cost of living, ensuring that workers receive a fair wage that meets their everyday needs,” says Unite regional officer Joanne McWilliams .

Grade 3 lead workers have had rises from £10.77 to £12.73 an hour with grade 6 farm management hourly wages now at £13.90.

County Tyrone’s Ronnie Corbett, an employee at Moy Park Chickens for over 25 years, is one of six Unite reps who annually face a struggle to convince six Ulster Farmers Union (UFU) reps on the AWB to reward their employees more favourably.

In 2024, the UFU hoped to pay nothing extra but thanks to backing from the board’s independents a 6% increase was awarded. This followed rises of over 8% in 2023.

“The UFU always plead poverty, but they need these short-term workers who are actually skilled as picking lettuce and cabbages at the necessary pace is a real task. And you saw what happened in England following Brexit when they could not recruit workers. Fields did not get picked and food rotted,” said Ronnie.

“I’d like to see better pay and conditions but fact is that farmers are struggling to put pressure on the supermarkets to increase farm gate prices. Farmers fear speaking up but Unite through Joanne McWilliams is doing so,” explains Ronnie, who is also concerned that NI family farms will be bought out by the likes of venture capitalists Blackrock in the near future.

According to Ronnie, the NI AWB’s continued existence - which was only made possible by Unite leading a united campaign in 2021-22 that involved rural councils helping to defeat plans by the Northern Ireland Assembly Rural Affairs Minister, Edwin Poots to scrap it - means workers do not need to rely on casual, cash in hand work as there is a framework of terms and conditions.

“It stops abuse and helps unify an isolated,  fragmented workforce. Migrant workers whose English is their second language get the same rights.”

At the same time, Unite aims to maintain pressure for further improvements throughout 2025. “We expect some horse trading at future meetings as their appears to be an understanding that the skills base should be better rewarded.

“That the AWB exists means we can put our concerns to the farmers regularly and negotiate ongoing improvements.”

All NI reps like Ronnie hope to see the restoration of the AWB in England. “I am glad that Unite is putting pressure on the Labour government as an English AWB can help rebuild terms and conditions and encourage more people to work in agriculture and horticulture.”

This article is dedicated to Jimmy Bradley, a Northern Ireland Unite steward who died last year.