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Cape Town – The International Labour Organisation (ILO) fingered the rise of super-retailers, government policies and laws, and profound global changes in the food business as key reasons why farmworkers are still struggling to improve their lives.
The ILO conducted 10 case studies of five farms each in eight provinces after the protests in De Doorns in the Western Cape in 2012, and presented the results to Parliament's portfolio committee on rural development and land reform on Wednesday.
In 2012 farmworkers had refused to work, blocking highways and at times burning fields. They demanded R150 per day and improved living conditions, saying they only earned between R69 and R75 a day.
In February 2013 Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant announced an increase to R105 per day as the minimum wage for farmworkers.
Presenting the report, University of Cape Town researcher, Margareet Visser, said there were complex reasons why most farmworkers are battling.
The government liberalised produce pricing in South Africa by removing the marketing boards that fixed prices. This meant farmers had to negotiate individually with clients. Now they had to face off against massive retailers such as Tescos, Walmart, Pick n Pay and Shoprite.
Farmers had lost their group negotiating power and competition laws also prevented price-fixing, Visser said. Farmers are told what they will get for their produce and as a result, their profit margins are low.
For example, with the final price of grapes, retailers get 42%, distributors get 32%, 8% goes to packaging and 18% to the farmer who has not packaged the farm's produce, or 26% to the farmer who has packaged products.
On top of this, fluctuating exchange rates and adverse weather conditions have lowered their profits even more.
Restructured workforce
To cope, farmers started restructuring their workforce. They have been 'casualising' farmworkers, only using them when they need them, and using labour brokers.
They are not replacing retired workers and if somebody resigned, they don't replace them.
A year before the introduction of a minimum wage, the workforce in agriculture, forestry and fisheries fell from around 1.5 million in 2002 to around 661 025 in the third quarter of 2012.
A 2004 study of apple producers in Grabouw and Ceres showed that most producers were downsizing their permanent workforce through retrenchments or attrition.
Visser said the number of farming units had declined by 30% over 10 years and the average solvency of farms had declined to its worst levels in 30 years as debt growth outstripped asset growth.
The number of workers had also dropped by 30% over 20 years. More workers are living 'off-farm' with labour brokers hiring them as seasonal workers.
But this meant the creation of 'seasonal' workers who are settling in towns near the farms and placed enormous strain on their inadequate infrastructure. The local authorities don't have the money to provide housing for them and this is creating a potential 'social hot spots'.
Compliance with laws
The ILO found that there are fairly high levels of compliance with laws on leave and working hours for farmworkers with 83% of permanent workers getting annual or pro-rata leave, compared with 63% of seasonal workers.
Only 77% of seasonal workers got paid sick leave and 83% of permanent workers. But the downside was that to get the sick leave, the worker had to pay for a doctor's consulation to get a sick note. They were not allowed to stay at home and "doctor themselves" because they would lose pay for that day.
Ninety-six percent of seasonal workers work nine hours or less per day, compared with 89% of permanent workers. Ninety-one percent of seasonal workers received a payslip during each pay period and 98% of permanent workers get one.
Only 56% of seasonal workers are paid the proper overtime rate and 70% of permanent workers.
Permanent workers received benefits such as a provident fund and a funeral fund, but seasonal workers could mostly expect no more than free transport and medical loans.
Labour brokers, though unpopular, are placing seasonal workers in other jobs when their work on one farm ends.
The ILO recommended that the government change labour legislation to protect seasonal workers, that there be more legal support and rights training for farmworkers, and that there was closer co-operation with the department of labour.
It also suggested that the government roll out public works programmes in rural areas in the off season.
