A-Infos (en) UK, ACG, Jackdaw 26 - Super-exploitation on UK Farms (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Agricultural workers are underrepresented and largely ignored in the 
trade union movement. They make up less than 1% of the workforce and are 
mainly migrants.  Recently, however, the workers themselves are 
organising, supported by grass roots unions.
Since leaving the EU, the UK has struggled to get workers for the 
low-paid and back-breaking jobs characteristic of the farming industry. 
The government therefore launched a special scheme- the Seasonal Worker 
Visa Scheme, which is now set to run until at least 2029.
This scheme is for workers who have a job offer in the UK to do seasonal 
horticulture work or poultry production work with a sponsor who is an 
approved scheme operator.
In theory, the pay and conditions of these workers is regulated but it 
is becoming increasingly apparent that the scheme is just a way for 
employers to exploit workers, maximising their own profits.
Strikes and Support
The United Voices of the World (UVW) is largely a London-based union, 
focusing its efforts on low- paid and precarious workers, usually 
migrants. However, in 2023, they responded for a call for help by a 
worker on a farm in Herefordshire, an official sponsor in the Seasonal 
Worker Visa Scheme. She is one of 88 Latin American workers who 
organised the UK's first-ever wild cat strike by seasonal migrant 
workers on visas in 2023, protesting wage theft, 
discrimination, harassment and unsafe working conditions at Haygrove Farms.
The workers were recruited in Chile under the UK government's Seasonal 
Worker Visa scheme and brought claims alleging serious mistreatment and 
exploitation, including unpaid wages, fewer hours than promised, 
mounting debt from rent and living costs, and racially discriminatory 
treatment by supervisors. They argue these conditions amount to modern 
slavery.
Despite the efforts of the UVW and the workers, the Employment Tribunal 
refused to hear their case, arguing that time limits had expired. This 
decision was made even though tribunals having the legal power to extend 
time limits where it is "just and equitable" and these workers were 
homeless, undocumented, without income and traumatised after fleeing the 
farm, following the cancellation of their visas.
The case exposes the structural injustice faced by workers on the 
Seasonal Worker Visa scheme, who are legally tied to a single employer 
and prohibited from seeking alternative work even when their rights are 
violated - a system campaigners say mirrors conditions of servitude.
Fortunately they have now won the right to appeal.
Aida Luna Silvestre, seasonal worker and claimant, said:

"It has been a long wait, but we must keep fighting until the system 
changes. I have lived this experience first-hand as a worker, and we 
cannot remain silent - if we do, this system will continue unchanged. 
The temporary worker visa program needs more opportunities, including 
the right for workers to switch employers so that those being exploited 
can seek better conditions. Workers should also have access to unions to 
learn and protect their rights. The reality of modern slavery is often 
ignored. People do not see the main issue: how workers are treated on 
farms and what rights they are entitled to. Many are misled by the 
advertisements of large farms that promise good treatment and medical 
access, but this is far from the truth. Most people here simply do not 
know what workers endure."
Solidarity Across Land Trades (SALT)
This is a new union, which started as an independent initiative, but is 
now part of the Bakers, Food and Allied Workers Union. It seems that 
SALT is largely autonomous with its own website (See: 
https://saltunion.org/). What is unusual about this union is that it 
organises among volunteers and free lancers, usually focusing on workers 
in the alternative, agroecological and organic sector.
"Solidarity Across Land Trades (SALT) is a grassroots trade union 
organising for fairer conditions, solidarity, care and justice. We are a 
collective of workers, trainees, freelancers, co-op members and 
volunteers who are employed by others in land-related trades. We fight 
for better standards of pay, working conditions and cultures within our 
sectors, support our members with workplace issues and build community 
between landworkers and wider social justice movements."
SALT achieved its first win on a supposedly ethical dairy farm, which 
was underpaying its workers, as well as showing cruelty to animals 
(https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2024-12-19/chrissie-hynde-turns-back-on-ethical-farm-after-animal-welfare-allegations/). 

SALT published a very critical report of the alternative agricultural 
sector based on a survey of their membership: 
https://saltunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/burnt-out-overworked-and-underpaid-salt-report-revised-20th-feb.pdf. 

Its focus on volunteers and trainees has also brought it into some 
conflict with Land Workers Alliance (LWA), the best known organisation 
campaigning for a radical transformation of the food system. This is 
because the LWA also includes farms, both rural and urban, who employ 
workers and who often rely on volunteers and training schemes.
SALT hopes to move beyond organising in the alternative farming sector 
to organise among workers in the traditional farming industry. They 
firmly supported the actions of the UVW to organise the migrant workers 
who predominate in this sector.
They have been very critical of the alternative farming movement which 
organises the annual Oxford Real Farming Conference.
From an article on their website: https://saltunion.org/at-orfc-2026/
"The situation for farm workers in Britain is dire. LANTRA, the largest 
provider of land-based training in the UK and Ireland, places a farm 
worker's expected salary at £14,000 to £18,000 a year - dramatically 
below the UK median average for 2025 of £39,039 as reported by the 
Office for National Statistics. Minimum wage work is the norm. Informal 
contracts with no pension or sick pay are standard. Abuse of every kind 
is common place. Modern slavery in the sector has been increasingly 
documented.
Until last year, the UK's alternative agriculture sector was heavily 
dependent on 'trainees' who were paid an average of £1.41 per hour, if 
they were paid at all: many worked for room and board in exchange for 
basic on-the-job training. It was only after campaigning from SALT that 
these traineeships were outlawed. Yet still some farms persist in 
offering these positions through novel loopholes.
"One delegate I spoke to, who had been working on farms in alternative 
agriculture for 10 years and attended the conference on and off in that 
time, told me that the conversations about workers' rights had made 
little progress during her decade in the industry. Every year 
individuals came forward at the conference with stories of abuse and 
malpractice, often at the hands of those same well-known farmers 
continuously given panel positions (which as a trade union we can attest 
to as many workers bringing their cases to us are from the stalwarts of 
organic farming). Nothing would shift. The difference now is that for 
the first time those voices are forming collectives."
Building an effective movement for justice
We need to go well-beyond organising workers within the current system. 
Agricultural land is largely privately owned, just like other resources. 
When someone owns land, they use it to make profit for themselves. Given 
the labour-intensive nature of much land-based work, the owners will 
seek to pay workers as little as possible. The only solution is to 
actually place the land into collective stewardship, such that land is 
used for the common good, controlled and managed by those who do the 
work. And, links need to be made directly with people who eat the food 
produced, side-lining the supermarkets who exploit both producers and 
consumers.
For more information about land reform and transformation of the food 
system see: Manifesto for Land Justice available to download at 
www.peopleslandpolicy.org.

https://www.anarchistcommunism.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/jackdaw_low-res.pdf
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