An international union, which comprises 387 organisations across 120 countries, has warned of the potential ramifications of the government's decision to dissolve the Agricultural Wages Board in England and Wales.

The International Union of Food (IUF) warned on Thursday that wage board abolition could lead to the exploitation of children working on the land. The Agricultural Wages Board negotiates pay and conditions for 150,000 agricultural workers, but also covers other entitlements, including tied in housing, leave, protective clothing and work regulations for seasonal workers and minors.  

The Agricultural Wages Order includes minimum pay rates for children of compulsory school age, and higher rates of pay for the over 16s than the national minimum wage.

The IUF warning was issued one week before MPs are set to vote on the government's proposals. Writing to work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, IUF general secretary Ron Oswald cautioned, "Agriculture globally remains the biggest user of child labour with 60 per cent of all child labour taking place in agriculture. We believe there is a strong possibility that the abolition of the AWB will make children more vulnerable to exploitation in agriculture."

By Defra's own admission, the board's abolition would result in a massive transference of wealth from agricultural workers to their employers, removing £260 million from workers' salaries over 10 years, in addition to reducing time off and sick pay.

IUF secretary Oswald added, "It does not make economic sense in the current economic climate to remove deliberately cash from the rural economy, and certainly runs counter to the claims being made by the UK prime minister David Cameron that he is concerned about eliminating world hunger, most of which takes place in rural areas, while his government is taking measures to undermine food security for its own rural population. Abolishing the Agricultural Wages Board can only be interpreted as a dismantling of agricultural workers' rights."

Last year, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation pinpointed 14 forced labour practices in the UK food industry, such as not being paid, not being paid the hours owed and not paying the national minimum wage.

The Enterprise and Regulatory Reform bill will be subject to voting in the House of Commons on Tuesday 16th April. The government is seeking to add an amendment to the bill which would close the agricultural Wages Board.