The following has been supplied by the TUC
The abolition of the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB) could lead to the re-emergence of child labour on British farms, an international union representing agricultural workers has warned. The warning from IUF came ahead of a 16 April Commons vote on the future of the AWB, which has protected the incomes of 150,000 agricultural workers since the second world war. In a letter to work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith, IUF general secretary Ron Oswald wrote: 'We believe there is a strong possibility that the abolition of the AWB will make children more vulnerable to exploitation in agriculture.' AWB sets minimum pay rates for children of compulsory school age, and higher rates of pay for the over 16s than the national minimum wage. Unite national officer for agriculture Julia Long said: 'The IUF letter reinforces Unite's case that the board's abolition could herald poverty wages on the land; very suspect employment practices; and the real possibility of child labour being exploited shamelessly by ruthless bosses.' Unite, an IUF affiliate, is lobbying intensively in the run-up to the 16 April vote by MPs on the government amendment to the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform bill that seeks to abolish the AWB.
