Worker's awfully poor rate (8)
I believe the answer is:
operator
'worker's' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'awfully poor rate' is the wordplay.
'awfully' indicates an anagram.
'poor'+'rate'='poorrate'
'poorrate' is an anagram of 'OPERATOR'.
(Other definitions for operator that I've seen before include "Person who controls machinery" , "Agent that runs some apparatus or machine" , "Person who runs a machine or a business" , "Conductor" , "Poor rate (anag.)" .)