Cape Town - Strikes in the agricultural sector on Thursday hit one of the Boland’s largest fruit producers.
This comes after weeks of threats by the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit Industry (Bawsi) and the Agricultural Workers Union of South Africa (Bawusa) that workers would strike.
Workers on four farms owned by the Le Roux group downed tools on Thursday. The farms are Broodkraal (Piketberg), Sandrivier (Wellington), Joubertsdal and Mooikelder (Paarl).
Stephan Strauss, the manager at Sandrivier, alleges that Bawusa organisers waited at transport pick-up points on Thursday morning and came on to the farms and persuaded people to strike.
“We consider this to be an unprotected strike and have informed workers that there is a no-work, no-pay policy in place. There is also a possibility that workers who continue to participate in the unprotected strike will lose their jobs,” he said.
He alleged that Bawusa supporters, who were in the minority, had intimidated other workers through phone calls, verbal warnings and stone-throwing.
Adriaan Markus, Bawusa’s Paarl regional secretary, disagrees. He said workers on the farms had complained that their employer had increased transport, rent and electricity deductions to undercut the new minimum wage.
“Bawusa did not call this strike on its own. It received a clear mandate from workers on the respective farms. They feel that they are worse off than before because of the new deductions.”
He said a 48-hour notice had been given to the employer and that the strike was not unprotected because certain provisions in the Labour Relations Act allows for a strike to be called without permission being granted by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
This week marks the first anniversary of violent strikes on farms in the province. Between November and January, the sector suffered tens of millions of rand in losses due to reduced productivity, arson and vandalism.
In February, Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant announced that the minimum wage would be raised from R69 a day to R105.
Cape Argus