writing to encourage all readers to support Unite’s campaign and say ‘No! to Rural Poverty’ http://www.unitetheunion.org/campaigns/save_the_awb.aspx
The Coalition Government is set to scrap the Agricultural Wages Board,
the industry body that has set minimum rates of pay and conditions
within agriculture since 1948.
Have you ever wondered where the
salad that you buy in one of Horsham’s supermarkets are grown or where
many of the ornamental plants in the garden centre come from? The answer
to both questions is here in West Sussex, grown by many thousands of
hard working horticultural workers.
I work in horticulture and know what a rewarding career it can be, but I
am also aware that horticulture has an image problem, one based on low
pay and hard manual labour. Neither of these descriptions are entirely
true and here in West Sussex we have one of the most efficient and
productive nursery sectors in the UK. To create a sustainable future for
our industry we need to attract a new generation of horticulturalists
and we won’t be helped by abolishing the Wages Board, in fact it will
make things a whole lot worse, as the current negotiated minimum pay
rates and scales , sick pay and holidays allowances will all be lost.
The prospect of a working environment where the only guarantees are the
national minimum wage and statutory sick pay is not one to be relished
and will do nothing to attract new recruits into our industry.
To take part in the consultation, and to support the retention of the Wages Board visit
For more information about the campaign to save the AWB email david.hide1@btinternet.com
David Hide is technical manager on a large wholesale nursery and Unite branch organiser
10 Clarence Road, Horsham
Save the AWB
Keep farm pay national - stop the abolition of the AWB.
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