The Press and Journal (Inverness, Highlands, and Islands)
‘Wages board barrier to bringing in new blood’
Workforce: Higher rates put young workers at disadvantage, says MP
A Scottish MP has written to Rural Economy Secretary Fergus Ewing calling for clarity on the status of the Scottish Agricultural Wages Board (SAWB).
Kirstene Hair, who is a Conservative MP for Angus, claims the wages board and the rates it sets are putting younger, inexperienced
“Younger farmers still learning are missing out”
farm workers at a disadvantage.
In her letter, Ms Hair says the board is also putting Scottish farmers at a competitive disadvantage to their counterparts in the rest of the UK, where the wages board has been abolished.
“I have been approached by farmers who feel that, due to the higher wages required by the Agricultural Wages Board (AWB), they feel it is a better use of their limited resources to employ more experienced workers,” said Ms Hair.
“That is understandable, but it means that younger farmers who are still learning are missing out.”
She said the issue needed to be addressed urgently because the industry was in need of new blood – the average age of Scottish farmers is 58.
“We now have a situation where the wage level imposed by the AWB is higher than that required by any other business paying the national minimum wage,” added Ms Hair. “That cannot be right, and it needs to be addressed urgently.”
A Scottish Government spokesman said a public consultation, held in 2015, determined that the wages board would continue to exist.
He said: “The wages board continues to protect wage rates, holiday entitlement and other terms and conditions of service for workers employed in Scotland’s agricultural sector.
“Without the wages board, the legal framework for paying wages to agricultural workers would be the national living or minimum wage structure which could result in a reduction in wages for agricultural workers in Scotland,” added the spokesman.