As deeply controversial plans to do away with the Agircultural Wages Board in England and Wales move through parliament, trade unions have called on the Prince of Wales to stand up for agricultural workers, who stand to lose out if the government's proposals go through.

image expired

If the coalition's plans are not challenged in the Commons, the AWB could face closure as early as October. The board, England and Wales' last remaining wage board, negotiates pay and conditions for over 150,000 agricultural workers once a year.  

On Friday, The Trade Union Congress and Unite, the union representing many agricultural workers whose future is in jeopardy, called on the Prince of Wales to "take a leading role in protecting the pay and conditions of his estate's workers." Although Defra claims AWB closure is merely house-keeping, which will bring farming into line with other industries and allow the market to dictate terms of employment, critics of the plans have said the move amounts to a transference of wealth from workers to their employers, which will exacerbate the growing problem of rural poverty.

Defra's own consultation documents reveal that AWB closure will result in a "Reduction in sick pay paid by farmers, decreased annual leave [and] reduction in wages paid by farmers," and that changes will come at "a cost to workers." Unite has said that loss of the board would directly cost rural workers £273 million over ten years.

Over 60 percent of responses to the government consultation on AWB closure were in favour of retention, and the devolved governments of Scotland and Northern Ireland have opted to keep their wage boards intact.

Although government and industry in England, including the general manager at Prince Charles' Duchy of Cornwall Nursery, back AWB closure, the Welsh government and farming industry have been deeply critical of the plans, which they claim risk increasing farmers' bureaucratic burden, straining working relationships, exacerbating poverty and deterring prospective new entrants into agriculture. The Welsh government has mooted setting up its own pay-setting body if the AWB dissolution goes ahead.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady and Unite general secretary Len McCluskey criticised the Duchy Nursery stance in a letter to the Prince. The union leaders said in their letter, "We would propose that the estate might take a leading role in defending the terms and conditions of its agricultural employees and market gardening employees from attack. This might include giving appropriate advice to tenant farmers and to managers in the Duchy's businesses."

O'Grady and McCluskey also raised concerns over the role of retailers in the AWB's tribulations; they said that major retailers who stand to benefit from lower wages on farms have been pressing for abolition through the Fresh Produce Consortium.

A government amendment on the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board comes to the Commons on Tuesday 16 April. A Labour amendment in favour of the Agricultural Wages Board won cross-party backing in the House of Lords in March.