Two months after the implementation of the law on minimum wages in the South African agricultural sector came to force and talk of retrenchments in the sector is rife, but the Labour Department refuses to budge on the new law.
Meanwhile farmer organisation AgriSA, which has agreed in principle to the minimum wage, argues that the implementation of the new law is impractical and this could result in farm workers losing jobs.
According to AgriSA labour and training director Kobus Kleynhans, a survey conducted by the organisation showed that more than 150 000 permanent and
130 000 seasonal jobs could be on the line as a result of the law.
“AgriSA agreed with the government about two years ago in principle on the minimum wage, but it is the implementation aspect of it that we are having a problem with,” Kleynhans said.
He added that the new law was likely to force farmers to undertake restructuring, which could result in farm workers losing their jobs.
“We have on numerous occasions appealed to the Minister of Labour to address our concerns about the implementation of this law and we are still waiting for a response,” he added.
In the Limpopo province, where unemployment stands at nearly 50%, the agricultural sector is of great importance. Farmers have to pay a minimum wage
of 650 rand per month, which they say they cannot afford.
Labour Department representative Snuki Zikalala emphasised that the new law is enforceable and the department won’t budge.
“The department has urged farmers who cannot afford the minimum wage to apply for exemption but only a few have done so,” Zikalala said.
He added that AgriSA and the department have reached an agreement on the implementation of the minimum wage “and therefore they cannot deviate from the
agreement and make blanket statements.”
Zikalala said that farm workers losing their jobs did not deserve this kind of treatment from farmers who used the implementation of the minimum wage as an
excuse.
“In our meeting with AgriSA we agreed that there should never be dismissals of farm workers, therefore AgriSA has a responsibility to go back to its members and encourage them to stop dismissing workers,” Zikalala said.
The department estimates that there are 10 000 Zimbabwean workers now in South Africa, many of them working in the country illegally. Farmers in the Limpopo province have taken advantage of this large pool of available labour by paying lower wages, sometimes as low as R350 a month, to foreign workers in comparison with the sum paid to local workers.
Many of the farm owners apparently also prefer foreign workers, claiming local workers demand more pay and find the hard work unappealing.
Zikalala added that the department would soon be holding a meeting with farmers and other stakeholders to discuss agricultural concerns, but added that the minimum wage law would not be on the agenda.
South African Agricultural Plantation and Allied Workers Union (Saapawu) general secretary Sipho Khumalo said the new law provides farmers with an opportunity to ask for exemption, but they continue to fail to do so.
“There has always been a decline of jobs in the agricultural sector even before the implementation of the minimum wage. Research done by the Labour Department also showed that the implementation of the law won’t lead to job losses,” Khumalo argued.
He accused farmers of using the implementation of minimum wage as an excuse
to maintain the status quo.
“It is not about this law but a question of attitude on the part of farmers towards this democratic government. They are used to being a law unto themselves and using farm workers as slaves,” Khumalo said.
The agricultural sector employs almost one million workers in the country.
The minimum wages and working conditions in the agricultural sector as promulgated last December came into effect in March. For some time AgriSA has been threatening legal action against the Sectoral Determination in Agricultural Sector, but at a meeting with President Thabo Mbeki earlier last month AgriSA endorsed the minimum wage. – I-Net-Bridge