Agricultural Wage Board abolition a 'step foward' says NFU

The path is now clear towards the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board following yesterday’s clearance in the House of Commons, the NFU said today.

The legal text that formally abolishes the AWB was inserted into the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill in the Lords, and their amendments have now passed through the House of Commons, meaning the Bill is free to pass to Royal Assent in the reasonably near future.

NFU Deputy President Meurig Raymond said: “The abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board has been a long-standing policy ambition of the NFU and we are pleased that we’re in sight of this goal. Throughout our lobbying effort over the years, the NFU has consistently argued that it is outdated, particularly with the existence of a national minimal wage and working time regulations which apply to all employment.

“AWB abolition is a progressive reform and is a welcome step to freeing up the industry to reward workers appropriately for the valuable work they do on farms. At last, we can move on from the one-sized-fits-all approach that puts agriculture out-of-step with the rest of the UK workforce. Free from the order, this creates the opportunity for workers and employers to look more widely at the total employment package; to go beyond the basic hourly rate and consider skills, training, and salaries as negotiations between individual workers and individual businesses become the norm.

“The timeframe for abolition still has to be confirmed, but it is hoped that abolition will coincide with the expiration of the current Agricultural Wages Order at the end of September. For the timebeing, employers must still comply with the terms of the order, alongside other employment legislation. Employers must be aware that current terms and conditions will remain in place after abolition for existing workers.

“The NFU’s work on employment issues continues. We are committed to providing key indicators and business guidance to help support the agricultural industry as it makes the transition to practices that are standard in every other sector of the economy.”

Plans to abolish the board were drawn up by a statutory panel announced by the government in July 2010, but Shadow farm minister Huw Irranca-Davies said it will be a blow to the agricultural economy.

"The Government admits that the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board will take £240 million out of the pockets of farm workers over the next ten years.

"David Cameron’s out of touch government has delivered a bitter blow to the rural economy... People in the countryside need a One Nation plan to create jobs and growth, not this Government’s approach that leaves our lowest paid workers out of pocket."

Activists for the trade union Unite said they had delivering their messages of support for the board which it said 'protects the incomes of 150,000 agricultural workers.'

On Friday, Unite members lobbied the president of the Liberal Democrats, Westmorland and Lonsdale MP Tim Farron's constituency surgery on the government plans which Unite, the largest union in the country, warns will bring poverty wages to the countryside.

The union has said that 60 per cent of responses to the government’s consultation on the Agricultural Wages Board’s future were in favour of its retention.