ENGLISH FARM WORKERS

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23319, 3 May 1941, Page 8

ENGLISH FARM WORKERS

Higher Wages Being - v" Paid The claims of the, agricultural workers of Great Britain for social amenities, education and housing comparable with those enjoyed by the skilled workers in the towns are being pressed, Mr W. Holmes, national secretafy of the Agricultural Workers’ Union of the United Kingdom, said in an interview yesterday. The minimum wage for. adult agricultural workers before the war was ‘£2 8s a week, hut

in most counties an increase of from 8s to 18s weekly had since been made. ’ “Hours of work for agricultural workers nre 48 in winter and SO in summer,” Mr Holmes said. “Of course, the farmers have a method of stretching the summer and shortening the winter, and . now, with summer Time all the year round, they were anxious to extend the summer-time hours; Oar Unionists would hot have that. It is like our experiences when our fellows take a contract at so much an acre. When they check up for payment for piece work, the acreage shrinks. When the farmer wants to pay so much an here for sugar beet and other, crops, the Helds expand. , “Now; New Zealand wake up,” commented Mr Holmes after he had described the English rural housing scheme as “the finest in the world.” The main act specified the type bf house and the area of the garden. About 'three years ago, a conyjnission was appointed to inquire Into rural housing, and he collected evidence from 3000 Villages, Although prospects ; were not good, the commission finally made recommendations which resulted in an expansion of building and a good subsidy, An amount of £lO a year was given as a subsidy for 40 years. As a house could be built for from £4OO to £SOO in the country, the subsidy meant, in effect, that the Government made itself responsible for nearly the full cost. .Rural houses were built either by ’district councils or county' councils, but thousands of workers had built their Own homes. The rents varied from 3s 6d to 10s a week, according to the act under which the houses were built. Under the old act, an agricultural worker was allowed a rebate on his rent, the reduction being based on family income but mainly on his own wage. “We have not yet brought the agricultural worker to the position he wants,” Mr Holmes said. “We have always tried to popularise the idea that he is entitled to the same social amenities, education and housing aS the skilled town workers. If keep is provided. committees in the counties fix the deductions, from the minimum Wage. It varies from 15s to £l. Set amounts may also be deducted for meals provided by the fanner. The

procedure is that deductions are made On a scale which does not allow the earnings of boy and girl workers, from 14 to 21 years of age, to be absorbed by the farmer as board and lodging Charges.” In the gradual fight for recognition of the agricultural workers, a slight increase in wages was obtained-just before the war. The workers were under an obligation to remain in the farming industry unless they were unemployed for a fortnight,, after which they could transfer to another industry. ■ - ■