Last-minute attempts by the Department of Labour to prevent a farmworkers' strike, which is planned for tomorrow, fell on deaf ears yesterday as farmworkers' representatives and civil society organisations said it was too late to derail their plans for what was likely to become a national strike.
Agri SA did not pitch up at a meeting that could have saved the day for Western Cape farmers, and the department decided to hold a separate session with the farmers' association today.
In the meeting with the workers' representatives and civil society coalition, the department said it had appointed the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration's national commissioner to facilitate a process to consider minimum wages for farmworkers. - Londiwe Buthelezi