No extra day for farm workers

PROPOSALS TO give farm workers an extra day annual holiday have been abandoned by the Agricultural Wages Board for England and Wales.

The board made the move following 410 representations regarding its plans for a new Wages Order due to come into effect on 1 October.

Of these, 273 supported the extra day proposal or suggested that minimum wage rates should be increased further because of low pay across the farming industry.

But 140 representations were against the idea – primarily on the grounds that the overall increase in labour costs would be unsustainable or lead to job losses.

After considering all representations, the board said it had decided to make revised proposals with a view to reducing the overall cost of the proposed award.

These revised proposals will leave annual holiday entitlements unchanged.

They also leave the maximum period to which the Manual Harvest Worker wage rates apply unchanged at 30 weeks in any Manual Harvest Work Period.

The 21-strong board had previously proposed a reduction in this period to 26 weeks.

But it agreed the revised proposals by nine votes to six with independent board members voting with NFU representatives.