The government and farmers called a reluctant truce in an emotional meeting, which had threatened to break down in a stand-off between the parties.
The meeting last week took place between the government and agricultural interest groups, including the commercial farmers’ union AgriSA. The farmers are upset by new legislation that guarantees farm workers at least R650 a month if they work for more than 27 hours a week. The farmers say they cannot afford the new wage system.
Minister of Labour Membathisi Mdladlana and the farmers have been involved in a war of words for the past few months, ever since his ministry announced the minimum wages for farm workers.
The Sectoral Determination for the Agricultural Sector set a two-tiered minimum wage of R650 in remote rural areas and R800 in more developed areas, as well as minimum employment standards. The measures came into effect on March 1.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions, and its affiliate the National Council of Trade Unions, the Food and Allied Workers’ Union and the National African Farmer’s Union were all represented at last week’s meeting.
Controversy dogged the discussions. Members of AgriSA threatened to walk out and Mdladlana only stayed for a few minutes.
But Snuki Zikalala, spokesperson for the Department of Labour, said he was pleased that despite the emotional meeting the parties involved in agriculture were still willing to listen to each other.
The participants decided that a task team representing the social partners would be convened by the director of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration to chart a way to deal with the dispute.
The task team is scheduled to meet next week, after the parties exchange documents setting out their concerns. The team will submit its findings to Mdladlana.
Mlamli Maneli, spokesperson for the Food and Allied Workers’ Union, said his organisation is happy with the outcome, but insisted that workers should be paid more than R800 a month.
Rams Ramashia, director general of labour, said the decision was not intended to make farmers’ lives difficult or to destroy their industry, but to protect vulnerable workers from unscrupulous employers.
“AgriSA wishes to deal with these matters through discussions with the minister,” said Hans van der Merwe, executive director of AgriSA. “A legal process will be a final resort.”
He said farmers do not oppose the law, but want it to be delayed for six months. “We also want farmers’ employees to earn decent wages, but the way it is done causes difficulties for everyone.
“It has long been our policy that the quality of life of farm workers and their families should be on a high standard and that fair conditions of employment should be generally accepted practice,” he said.