THE Labour Party has mounted an 11th-hour plea to stop the Government scrapping a board which sets wages for tens of thousands of agriculture workers, warning the move will lead to a pay cut.
Shadow environment secretary Mary Creagh wrote to Lib-Dem and Tory MPs ahead of a vote in Parliament this week to abolish the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) which sets pay levels for 152,000 fruit pickers and farm workers in England and Wales.
Labour has tabled an amendment to save the AWB when the issue is debated tomorrow.
She said: “Forty-two thousand casual workers nationally will receive a pay cut next year when this year’s wages order runs out and they start a new job.”
Mrs Creagh added: “Removing these rights from low-paid workers at a time when rural families are feeling the squeeze from rising gas and petrol bills shows a government that is out of touch with the needs of the countryside.”
