§ Mr. Arthur Lewisasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food why the Government will not agree to treat the wage application of the farm workers as a special case; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. John Silkin:When representatives of the farmworkers' union raised this matter with me earlier this month they referred specially to the unfavourable level of agricultural wages compared with earnings in other industries; and they contended that this was not in keeping with the economic importance of agriculture, the skills required in its modern work force and its exceptional record of improved productivity.
I fully endorsed the unions' views on the importance of agriculture and the farmworkers' contributions to its achievements, but regretfully I had to tell them that their case for exceptional treatment did not meet the criteria in paragraphs 15 52W and 16 of the White Paper "Winning the Battle Against Inflation ", Cmnd. 7293. I remarked that all parties concerned with the current pay round needed to have regard to this White Paper. This applied equally to the first round .If negotiations when the Agricultural Wages Board is involved in determining statutory minimum rates, and to follow up negotiations by individual employers and employees to settle actual wages paid, including any provision for productivity.
Looking to the future I expressed my concern that the industry should have a highly skilled and well paid workforce, but progress in that direction must be achieved in line with contemporary pay policy.