In the advent of the next debate on the issue in the House of Lords, trade union Unite is lobbying Liberal Democrat and Labour Peers to oppose government plans to scrap the Agricultural Wages Board. The plans themselves and their implementation by the government have been deeply controversial.

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On Wednesday (16th January), the House of Lords will hold a debate on the future of the AWB, which sets pay rates and working conditions for agricultural workers in England and Wales.

The government proposed to abolish the AWB, England's last wages board, soon after coming to power in 2010. However, the move has been fiercely opposed by unions and the opposition Labour Party. Although in England farming groups have backed the government's plans, in Wales the government and farming industry have made clear their opposition to AWB abolition.

The government claims the board' closure will bring agriculture into line with other sectors, as workers will still be protected by the national minimum wage, and describes the AWB as a "relic". However, government consultation documents reveal the closure amounts to a transference of wealth from poorly paid workers (the lowest pay bracket is just 2 pence more than minimum wage) to their bosses.   

Defra states in the documents that "The net benefit of changes in payments to workers is zero, as a cost to workers is a benefit to farmers" and acknowledges the board's closure will result in a reduction of annual leave, wages and sick pay for workers. Unite estimates that AWB closure would carry a cost to the rural economy of almost £250 million over the next 10 years and Welsh farming industry groups have claimed that, contrary to the UK government's assurances, the closure will increase bureaucracy for farmers. 

Welsh AMs reacted furiously to news in December that the government had shifted the reforms passing through parliament from a public bodies bill to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill with only hours left before parliament broke up for Christmas. The move allowed Defra to ignore a challenge to its policy from the Welsh Government, which has been highly critical of the plans.

A Welsh government spokesperson said at the time that Defra's move "Circumvents and undermines the consent procedures in the Public Bodies Act that were carefully negotiated between the two governments."

Condemning the Westminster government's move as "underhand", Welsh deputy farming minister Alun Davies suggested the Welsh government may set up its own board to protect workers' conditions in Wales. Scotland and Northern Ireland have both opted to retain their AWBs.

On Monday, Unite national officer for agriculture Julia Long commented, "Many peers share our sense of outrage, both at the government's plan to decimate rural workers' livelihoods, and at the underhand and dishonourable way in which it has been done. The AWB's abolition will take £247 million out of the pockets of agricultural workers in the next 10 years, according to Defra's own figures.

"The beneficiaries from such a move are clear – the big agri-business bosses and the major supermarkets hell-bent on driving down workers' wages to poverty levels."  

According to Unite, 60 per cent of responses to the government's AWB consultation were in favour of retaining the board.

After Wednesday's vote in committee, the future of the AWB will be decided when the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform bill goes to the vote at report stage; this is expected to be in late February or early March.