IN WHAT has been described as a David and Goliath-like battle that could affect the entire agricultural sector, low-paid workers at Robertson Winery have extended a strike over pay and a consumer boycott they started last Wednesday.
They charge that management refused to negotiate in good faith. The company says it seeks to establish its own internal shop steward committee.
The strike enters its second week on Wednesday. The strikers are demanding an R8 500 monthly salary, substantially up on their current R2 900 and R3 500, according to Commercial Stevedoring Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) deputy secretary Karel Swart.
They’re also demanding a joint committee to investigate the alleged violation of workers’ rights.
The union represents about 250 Robertson Winery production-line workers. Yesterday, it warned it would intensify calls for a boycott of Robertson Winery products if the employer continued to defy a settlement.
“This is not a battle for these workers, but employees across the agriculture sector. The employees (in the sector) are overlooked on a daily basis and that is what we are fighting for. We have given the employer the mandate from our members and we are waiting for a response, but the employer does not want to negotiate at all,” said Swart.
He said the boycott was only for the period that members were on strike and would be called off as soon as the strike was over.
“We have called for support from other organisations to exert maximum pressure on the employer. The employer has even refused to allow human rights people to go to the area and that has left us asking what are they hiding.”
The company obtained a court interdict on August 25 against the alleged intimidation of non-strikers.
The workers continued with their protest outside the company yesterday. The union alleges employers were using their wealth, power and status to fight them.
“The bosses use state machinery like the police and the courts to advance a capitalist agenda.”
Robertson Winery executive officer Anton Cilliers refuted claims that they objected to recognising CSAAWU as the representative trade union.
Cilliers said they were “openly engaged” with the trade union in negotiating terms and conditions of employment towards the improvement of living standards for all parties concerned.
“Robertson Winery has proposed an increase of 8 percent to substantive conditions of employment. For its part, CSAAWU has made a final demand for a 57 percent average wage increase.
“The company remains committed to trying to resolve this dispute despite the relative distance between the parties’ final mandate.”
No grievances had been raised about alleged harassment or intimidation of any union representative or union member at Robertson Winery, he said.
“Should there be any such grievance, the company remains fully open and prepared to refer such allegations immediately to compulsory arbitration so the facts might be fully explored. We await CSAAWU’s information in this regard.”
Robertson Winery employee Eunice France said she had been earning the same since she arrived three years ago.
“I feel frustrated about what has been happening because we actually feel like nothing is happening. The bosses are not doing anything.
“My family is mostly dependent on me because my mother is a domestic worker and only works twice a week.”