Unite: Rural workers to demonstrate to defend their livelihood
WHEN: 9.30am, Tuesday, 25 October
WHERE: College Green, Westminster, SW1
On the day when MPs will decide the fate of the Agricultural Wages Board, rural workers will descend on Westminster to raise awareness of the plight of over 150,000 agricultural workers who face diminishing pay and conditions if it is abolished.
From all over the UK rural workers, some dressed as scarecrows, will travel to London tomorrow (Tuesday, 25 October) to lobby MPs in a bid to persuade them to back their campaign which has one objective – to maintain the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB).
Rural workers are extremely concerned at this government’s plans to abolish the AWB, a body which has supported rural workers for generations and was set up specifically to protect this vulnerable group of workers. Unite believes that this goes to show that the Tory-led government is completely out of touch with the countryside.
Unite national officer, Cath Speight, said: “According to the government’s own estimates, returning back to the statutory sick and annual leave payments alone, could potentially take over £9 million a year out of workers' pockets.
“This will be very unwelcome news to many of our members, who are already struggling to survive in the face of rising costs and higher food prices. Many have already been told by employers that should the AWB be abolished, their wages will be forced down – this is unacceptable and we can not allow this to happen.”
“During this present climate, where people are worried about food production, food security and food supplies, it is astonishing that this government has chosen to attack the very workers who we rely on to maintain supplies and production.”
Unite fully supports this fight back to defend these rural workers and their communities. The union has thousands of rural members who will face a serious attack on their livelihoods if the AWB is abolished.
ENDS
For further information contact Ashraf Choudhury in the Unite press office on 020 7420 8914 or 07980 224761.
Notes to Editors:
The AWB not only sets the pay rates for over 150,000 rural workers in England and Wales, but it also covers their holiday and sick pay entitlements and overtime premiums. If it is abolished, it will be replaced with the National Minimum Wage, which does not reflect the pay bands within the AWB or recognise the skills and training – currently recognised under the AWB.
The AWB has protected pay and conditions for farm workers, from apprentices to supervisors and if the government gets it way, it will bring to an end decades of pay protection for countryside workers.
It will also mean:
152,000 rural and farm workers will see their pay and conditions get worse over time;
£9 million taken out of the rural high street from lost holiday and sick pay alone;
42,000 casual rural workers will have an instant pay cut in October 2012 (when the current order runs out);
Axing minimum pay levels (currently £3.05p an hour) for school children working weekend or summer jobs.
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