Unions will call for a 6 per cent pay increase and the establishment of a pension scheme for Britain’s 400,000 agricultural workers in talks with farming representatives that are due to start today.

Chris Kaufman, the national secretary for agriculture at the Transport & General Workers’ Union, said: “Decent pay is the key to unlock the door to younger people, in particular, choosing to stay in farming.”

He said that the pay claim was “modest” and would bring the rate of pay for new workers to just over the £5.35 general national minimum wage. The union would also tackle the issue of accommodation for seasonal workers, after it emerged that some employers were charging their staff for the use of sub-standard living quarters.

The T&G wants farm employees to be paid double time for working on Sundays and Bank Holidays, as well as increasing the entitlement of one day in lieu.

The T&G will sit down with representatives from the National Farmers’ Union and independent members selected by the Government at the Agricultural Wages Board, which sets minimum standards for farm workers’ pay and conditions annually.

Agriculture is unique in continuing to have a statutory wages board and it is an offence to pay a worker below the levels that are determined by the board each year.

The conditions, which would come into force from October, affect Britain’s 150,000 farm workers and an estimated 250,000 migrant workers, some of whom come to the United Kingdom for the fruit-picking season, as well as those hired by gangmasters.

Initial negotiations will last for three days but talks are likely to continue throughout the summer.

A spokeswoman for the Countryside Alliance said: “It is essential for agricultural workers to be properly recognised. As a marginal industry, it is crucial that agricultural workers are operating on a level playing field with other key workers and any pay increase will help to ensure that Britain’s agricultural industry can flourish.”

However, she added that for farmers to be able to afford an increase in wages, British consumers and retailers would need to be prepared to pay “fair prices” for British produce.

“Unfortunately, the current state of British farming means that farmers are rarely operating on a level playing field, which means it is increasingly difficult for them to offer their agricultural workers an increase in pay.

“There must be a substantial change in farm-gate prices that can eventually be reflected in the wages paid to agricultural workers,” she said.

The T&G argues that labour costs fell by 5 per cent last year as productivity rose, despite a 5.9 per cent rise in pay for workers on the lowest pay grade, a 6.8 per cent pay rise for some skilled workers and a 2.9 per cent rise for other workers.

A union spokesman said: “We must be optimistic about these negotiations. No matter how much farmers jump up and down and squeal, their labour costs are coming down as a proportion of all costs.”

He added that labour expenses were now 14 per cent of overall outlay for farmers.

The National Farmers’ Union declined to comment.

Living wage

— A shareholder resolution calling on Tesco to ensure its suppliers’ staff receive “a living wage” is likely to be put to the supermarket’s shareholders at its annual meeting next month after winning the support of the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

— Stephen Pittom, secretary of the trust, which holds 900,000 shares in Tesco, called on the supermarket to engage in “accountable discussion”

— The trust has supported a proposed resolution sought by Benedict Birnberg, a small Tesco shareholder who is secretary of the charity War on Want

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