Farm workers plan anti-Tory protest

Farm workers represented by the T&G union are staging a protest outside Conservative HQ on Saturday against plans to scrap the Agricultural Wages Board.

Michael Howard said in September that the board, which sets minimum rates of pay for over 200,000 farms, would be scrapped in a drive to cut red tape. He claimed its functions had been overtaken by the national minimum wage.

But the T&G says the board is crucial to the industry.

T&G national secretary Chris Kaufman said: “If farms have changed since the board was established in 1918, the reasons for it haven’t. Freed from the pressure of farmers who often ‘owned’ farm workers through tied cottages, the board provides a place where legally enforceable pay, terms and working conditions can be agreed. The independent members’ involvement provides safeguards against abuse.”