Lord Hendy
Main Page: Lord Hendy (Labour - Life peer)
Lord Hendy (Lab)
My Lords, my noble friend Lord Whitty is right: the ongoing labour shortages in agriculture are caused by low wages and bad terms and conditions. The problem has dogged agriculture for years. Hitherto, the sector has been sustained by cheap European labour, which the government visa scheme will now extend. The use of foreign labour has been dependent on single persons whose families remain abroad and who therefore do not need to pay British family costs and are prepared to put up with non-family accommodation.
In 1924, the problem of low wages was addressed by the Agricultural Wages (Regulation) Act, which established agricultural wages boards, AWBs, which set wages by collective bargaining. The resulting annual agreements were binding by law on all agricultural employers and workers. The AWB for England and Wales was abolished in October 2013, though Scotland retained its board. The Welsh Government established their own, facing down a challenge in the Supreme Court in doing so. Now the Northern Irish board is under threat.
The AWBs set different rates reflecting skills and experience, thus offering something of a career progression—essential to attract youngsters into farm work. There were enhanced rates for overtime, weekend and night work, and fallback rates for waiting and travelling time. Housing costs were regulated and, underlying it all, workers had a say in their terms and conditions. Clearly, the AWB for England should be reinstated.
Small farmers operate on small margins, of course, but it was not they who sought abolition; it was the supermarkets. The brutal truth is that food is too cheap, and consumers too deserve higher wages. As the TUC general secretary said in a new year message:
“Britain needs a pay rise.”
The Government’s goal of a high-wage, high-productivity economy should start with agricultural workers.