The food and farming industries that feed us employ 3.9 million people in the UK and hundreds of thousands more in other countries. Our food supply and their wellbeing relies on them being able to make a decent living with good working conditions.
There are several main areas in which the Sustain alliance is working to improve jobs in food, farming and fishing, namely:
- Supporting calls for protection and promotion of workers' rights in the EU Withdrawal process
- Advocating for improved pay and working conditions for people working in agriculture, and reinstatement of an Agricultural Wages and Standards Board for England
- Supporting uptake of the real Living Wage, as calculated by the Living Wage Foundation, for example by measuring uptake of the Living Wage by London's 33 borough councils
- Advocating the realisation of the Right to Food in UK law, which would promote a healthy and sustainable food supply taking into account the needs of producers as well as consumers
- Promoting the idea that pay ratios in the food sector should be kept within sensible limits
- Working with international development specialists to ensure that food producers in developing countries benefit from fair trading conditions
Better Food Britain: We want everyone to be able to enjoy food that is good for our health, produced in a way that supports good livelihoods, reduced waste and greenhouse gas emissions, high animal welfare and restoration of nature. Find out how.