HUGH ROBERTSON CALLS FOR ABOLITION OF AGRICULTURAL WAGES BOARD

Agricultural Wages Board must go Hugh Robertson, Secretary of the Parliamentary Fruit Group, has called for the abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board. His call came at the last DEFRA Questions of the 2003/4 Parliamentary Session.

The Agricultural Wages Board sets the wage tariffs for agricultural workers annually. It is blamed by many fruit farmers, for whom labour costs account for between 40-60% of their cost base, for a series of above inflation wage increases that make their businesses uncompetitive. Hugh was involved in a bruising round of negotiations in 2002 that led to the resignation of two board members and the early retirement of the Chairman.

Hugh said: “It is wholly wrong that agriculture should be the only remaining part of the economy to have a wages board. The introduction of the national minimum wage has made it totally redundant – and farmers simply feel that they are the subject of discrimination.

“Fruit farmers and, indeed, anyone in the horticultural sector suffers particularly badly. Labour accounts for 40-60% of a fruit farmer’s cost base so, at a time when they are getting less and less for their produce at the supermarket, constant above inflation increases simply put them out of business. This has obvious implications for the countryside.

“Agriculture should not be discriminated against in this way. Farmers run businesses like anyone else and the national minimum wage should be the basis for wage settlements.”