Stop the Abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board!
Agricultural Wages Board Details

Grade 1 - Initial Grade

The determination of a minimum wages for all unskilled workers (level1). At present this is 1p above national minumum wage, although it is going up to 2p following this year’s agreement. It is this which the mainly Horticultural part of, NFU object most to. When we say "horticultural", don't get the idea that these are glorified allotment holders. Think fields two miles long with tractors ploughing with GPS systems and employing loads of termporary workers picking the vegetables on house - sized trucks going over the fields. These are modern day plantation owners.They say it adds to big a burden to an already tight market situation – growing fruit and vegetables have never received direct CAP support. Although quite how paying workers 1 pence or two above the minimum wage is so burdensome, you would need need to ask questions about the role of retailers and supply chains. If our fruit and veg is that vulnerable we should be asking a lot of other questions - like – why is the last and best vegetable research station in UK closing? (more about Wellesbourne closure)

Grades 2- 6 (Standard, Lead, Craft Supervisory and Management)

The other part and much more substantial part - 80% of workers of the WBO, is that relating to all the skilled workers, the vast majority of the permanent workforce in the UK. The skills levels go from 2 to 6, dependent of what recognised skills and experience workers have. See full skills and grades table. Details of who gets what from Annex 2 AWO 2009, & Working Party on Skills.

The element of skills has been present throughout as a way to encourage workers to develop themselves, and has been encouraged by the development and delivery of qualifications through the FE College system and attendant skills councils and awarding bodies. The incentive for workers is that they can better themselves and be duly rewarded. Just when we need a new generation to come to the land in order to farm “more sustainably”, we are throwing away the incentive mechanism to do so.

When we talk of “sustainable”, we mean progress balanced between environmental, economic and social concerns. This government has said it wishes to promote sustainable (DEFRA use the term 'sustainable' four times in their 'recipe for disaster' closures announcement ), yet clearly here they are smashing up the main farm framework for social improvement on the land. Lantra, the land based skils council, recently launched their skills strategy - "to ensure a profitable and sustainable agricultural industry for the future." The issue of the abolition of the AWB is about what sort of farming we want in this country - cheap and cheerless or quality and sustainable.

Fatal Blow

In an attempt to decrease the number of fatal accidents in farming, where you are twice as likely to be killed working on a farm than the next worst workplace - construction, the farmworkers' union, (RAAW sector of Unite) suggested that people on farms shuld learn health and safety skills In discussion with NFU, HSE, relevant Skills Councils and Awarding Bodies, a suite of Vocational Qualifications, at managerial level, supervisory level and supervised level, to promote good safety practices on farms, were developed. Full Story The qualiifcations are now part of the grading structure of the AWB. See table 2 of skills and grades. Further online learning materials have been developed to support H&S vocational qualifications (learning materials). NFU contributed to the process by rewarding people achieving those H&S quals, making it a unique mechanism for encouraging safer work.

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