AN attempt to overthrow the Government’s decision to abolish the organisation which protects the wages of thousands of farm workers in North and East Yorkshire has failed.
The Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) was set up to ensure fair pay levels for 152,000 fruit pickers and farm workers in England and Wales, including 6,190 in North Yorkshire, and critics said rural areas including Selby and Ainsty would be among the hardest hit.
Labour MPs held a debate with the Government in the House of Commons on Wednesday, urging the house to overturn the decision to abolish the AWB, which the Government said would take £260 million of lost holiday and sick pay out of the rural economy over 10 years. However, the vote was unsuccessful.
Nigel Adams, MP for Selby and Ainsty, said that although his constituency was expected to be among the hardest hit by the abolition of the organisation, which ensures those on the first grade of agricultural work earn 2p more than national minimum wage, controls overtime and night rates for farm workers, and ensures children under 16 working weekend or summer jobs earn £3.05 an hour, it was the right decision.
Mr Adams said: “The AWB was put in place decades before the introduction of the minimum wage which is a protection for workers and is now higher than the lowest band rate set by the AWB.
“This debate has been brought forward by Labour’s biggest donors Unite, the union, bizarrely after the AWB has already been abolished.“
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