On Monday (12th November), farm workers, supported by a tractor, union leaders and a band, staged a protest outside Parliament in an eleventh hour attempt to win rural workers a reprieve from the government's plans. The AWB is England’s last wages board; the boards were set up to negotiate pay and conditions in notoriously low-paid or dangerous industries through meetings between representatives of employers, government and workers.

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Unite, the union representing many agricultural workers whose work conditions will be plunged into jeopardy by the government’s decision, claims defra has rushed through plans to scrap the wages board, having launched a short consultation after two years of inaction on the subject of the Board.  The union has repeatedly warned that the abolition of wage, work conditions and housing protections for farm workers will lead to greater exploitation and falling living standards in rural areas.

Scotland and Northern Ireland have opted to retain their wage boards, arguing the need to protect the pay and conditions of agricultural workers and other vulnerable, often precarious, members of the workforce. The Welsh Assembly has also opposed the government’s plans, though Welsh workers also stand to lose out as Defra responded that wage control is not a devolved issue when Welsh AMs contested the decision.

Nevertheless, Steve Leniec, AWB member and rural farm worker commented on Monday, "We will not be silenced over this. We will shout it from the rooftops. The government is pushing 154,000 people in to poverty and putting rural communities in jeopardy. Without the AWB to negotiate pay and fair housing, wages will fall to the lowest legal wage possible. Bad employers will see this as the opportunity to cut pay and raise housing costs."

Unite is consulting legal advisers over the legality of the government’s short consultation period and claims £140 million in wages alone will be lost to vulnerable workers in rural areas with some of the highest poverty markers in the UK, whilst the problem of rural neglect worsens, limiting access to vital services and raising the cost of living in the countryside.

Julia Long, spokesperson for Unite said the Board's dissolution "is a senseless act by a government that is simply not on the side of either working people or our countryside.  We will continue to challenge this every step of the way."

Unions contest neoliberal dogma

In response to criticisms of the government plans, Phil Bicknell of the NFU, which supports abolition, denied that the demise of the AWB would impact on farm workers and the rural economy. He suggested that the abolition of other industry wage boards in the 1980s did not impact upon wages and suggested that, after a time, wages rose. He added that, as farming becomes more competitive, wages could rise again, claiming "AWB minimums have a minimal impact on the levels of pay that workers receive; we set pay because we need to be competitive. You don't put someone on a £50,000 tractor in charge of field operations that can make or break a business and pay them low wages."

However, Unite sought to counter these claims, pointing out that this was not the case and that wages have not risen in real terms in the UK for several years, with the exception of executive pay. Last month a report from the Trade Union Congress showed workers in the UK are £1,600 worse off each year than three years previously. TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber said in October "Unless things change, the UK's 12-year wage dive will continue until 2021 and cost the average worker around £8,500. The loss of income will be even worse for families receiving vital tax credits.

"Ordinary workers did not benefit enough from the proceeds of growth in the run-up to the crash as profits were hoarded by shareholders and top executives. A return to business as usual will simply postpone the next living standards crisis. It is clear that austerity isn't working. We need a new economic approach that delivers for all workers and their families."

The AWB secures conditions and wages for minors, as well seasonal and precarious workers who would not receive the same protection from minimum wage law. The board’s remit includes securing terms on the provision of warm and protective work clothing and 'reasonable rent' for tied-in accommodation, neither of which would be fully covered should the board be dismantled.

As the farming sector is already under immense pressure from the supermarkets and food industry to keep costs down, wages will certainly fall with the last floor of protection removed.

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