Stategies to counter the impacts of the drought

Writing in the Conversation Peter Johnston - a climate scientist and researcher at UCT  who explores the potential impacts of the drought on agriculture in the Western Cape. He draws on studies of Australia's Millenium drought and its social and economic impacts, observing the key difference between the two countries - South Africa's reliance on thousands of seasonal workers:

Seasonal workers in South Africa usually settle in the production area, often in informal settlements. Their earnings result from work during the harvest period which stretches from between one month to three. In many cases the earning period must sustain them for the rest of the year. Whole families are dependent on this income and any job losses can have a severe impact

Johnstone notes that:

So far the damage to trees and vines in the Cape has been limited. While the horticulture industry will suffer economic losses, the industry will recover, if not immediately, then over a few seasons if water for irrigation is restored by next September. It is, however, too soon to say what the long term impact will be in terms of soil quality, farmer confidence and water allocations.

It is clear that we need strategies to better manage and allocate water. However the impact of the drought on employment and the social impacts on thousands of families dependent on seasonal work for their income needs closer attention.

Wage increases in the agricultural sector: Views of organised agriculture and worker organisations

Wages are set to rise in the agricultural sector through phased increases:

• As from 1 March 2018 the agricultural sector will pay 15.39 per hour following an 8% increase in the minimum wage announced by the Minister of Labour
• From 1 May 2018 the national minimum wage of R20.00 per hour kicks in. However the agricultural sector has an initial special dispensation to pay R18/hour or 90% of the agreed minimum wage.
• Farmers who provide evidence that they cannot afford the increase can apply for a Section 50 variation which if granted remains valid for a year.

What will this mean for different actors in the sector?

AgriSA's perspective was recently spelt out by the Head of Labour and Development  Jahni de Villiers in an article published in the Huffington Post. In January De Villiers argued that:

• The agricultural sector has shed 109,000 jobs in 2017 and was 71,000 jobs down from the same quarter in 2016.
• The final research findings National Minimum Wage Commission published in 2016 indicates that 200 000 jobs were lost as a consequence of the first implementation of a minimu wage through the sectoral determination.
• Given the labour shedding response to the initial setting of minimum wages noted above, it is "a fair assumption" that further job lossses will follow a 17% increase in the minimum wage in 2018 and that layoffs or  will be aggravated by the severe drought in the Western Cape.
• AgriSA points to the need for "community development, including farmworker housing and farmworker enterprise development, and entrepreneurial development" However at the same time it notes that in the Western Cape only 8.5% of farmworkers have finished school and less than 1% have any tertiary education. 

Union responses remain critical although detailed statements are hard to find. No press statements have been possted on the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU) website since 28 July 2017. On their Facebook page FAWU reports that it has been campaigning for R5700/ month as a minimum wage and that "nobody can live on R20.00/ hour".

The Commercial, Stevedore, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union (CSAAWU) has a Twitter account which has been inactive since March 2015. The link to the organisation's website is dead. An article in Ground-Up reports CSAAWU's  response to the first phase wage increase:

“For CSAAWU the new recommendations from the Department are not only a slap in the face of farm workers, but an indication too that government has still not grasped the severity of the crisis of poverty facing rural workers. This new wage recommendation is a direct impoverishment of farm workers.”

CSAAWU is affiliated to the South African Federation of Trade Unions SAFTU which in December  2017 urged parliament to reject the National Minimum Wage Bill arguing that a minimum wage of 3500/month is pegged some R625 below the poverty line.

This rapid scan of responses show that representatives of the agricultural industry and worker organisations remain far apart. Organised agriculture has concerns about the afforability of wage increases particularly in a time of intense drought. Organised labour remains concerned about what constitutes a living wage which will lift workers out of poverty. The impact of wage increases on employment in the sector and the net impacts on poverty and vulnerability will need to be the focus of ongoing research.

Producer perspectives on creating an enabling environment for freedom of association and collective bargaining on farms

 Social Dialogue Platform for Decent Work in Agriculture

Creating an enabling environment for freedom of association and collective bargaining on farms 

Tuesday 27th February, 08:30-13:30

Venue: Pontac Manor, Paarl

https://goo.gl/maps/KWgBpjUQwiD2

Workshop objective

●     To explore perspectives of employers, commodity organisations and standards bodies on what can be done to create and expand an enabling environment to promote freedom of association and collective bargaining consistent with current legislation, sector standards and codes.

Draft programme

The programme may change to reflect participant feedback.

8:30	Registration and coffee
9:00	Welcome, introductions and expectations Session overview	Dr Rick de Satgé Phuhlisani NPC
9:15	The Social Dialogue Platform for Decent Work in Agriculture - a quick overview ●        Why are freedom of association and collective bargaining important for ETI?	Hannah Bruce ETI
9:30	A research informed conversation: Enabling freedom of association, collective bargaining and union access to farms ●        Sector research by the Labour and Enterprise Research Group for ETI ○        An overview of the research brief ○        Methodology ○        Early trends ○        Researcher questions and issues ○        Report release date and presentation	Dr Shane Godfrey and Mario Jacobs LEP
10: 00	Questions and discussion
10:20	Responses of employers and standards bodies to online questionnaire on freedom of association and union access to farms	Dr Rick de Satgé
11:00	Questions and discussion
11:15	Tea break
11:30	What needs to change to create an enabling environment to advance FOA and the right to bargain collectively  as per Section 4 of the WIETA Code, Section 5 of the SIZA standard and underlying labour law together with Section 3.4 of the Fairtrade Hired Labour Standard ●        What do employers need to do differently? ●        What do unions and NGOs need to do differently? ●        What are current good practices that we can learn from? ●        How can existing social dialogue initiatives eg Value Chain Roundtables help create an enabling environment?	Facilitated break away sessions
12:15	Plenary Sessions to report back discussions from breakaways and discuss proposals	TBA
12.45	Next steps ●        A joint session in 5 - 6 April which will include: ○        Institutional updates on social dialogue progress in the fruit and wine sectors ■         Individual reports ■         Good practice cases ○        Presentation of LEP research findings on FOA and CB ○        All party conversation of FOA and CB ○        Discussion of draft farm worker housing policy submission	Dr Rick de Satge
1:00	Lunch

If there are particular issues you would like to have discussed at this session please send your suggestions to rick@phuhlisani.org.za

Examining labour conditions of women farm workers in the Western and Northern Cape

A mixed methods research study prepared for Women on Farms Project (WFP) by Stephen Devereux, Glenise Levendal and Enya Yde sets out to identify "the nature of non-compliance and labour rights violations on farms in the Western and Northern Cape". The research findings draw on 343 questionnaires and combined quantitative, qualitative and participatory research methods. Of these 201 women were interviewed in the Western Cape (Paarl, Wellington, De Doorns, Wolseley, Rawsonville, Stellenbosch and Klapmuts)  and 142 were interviewed across 11 sites in the Northern Cape including Keimoes, Louisvale, Augrabies and Alheit.

The study which was first released in August 2017 is currently being updated according to the Women of Farms website 

The original report finds that:

• 39% of the women interviewed in the sample reported that they had not signed an employment contract
• 75% of seasonal workers reported that they were not paid the legal minimum wage 
• 33% of women interviewed worked against daily targets of which two in five workers found to be unachieveable. How these targets are set and approved appears unclear.
• 72% of workers reported that they did not have access to a toilet while working in the vineyards
• 62% reported that they lose a day's pay if they go to a health clinic
• 69% reported exposure to pesticides wuthin an hour of spraying.
• Only 12% of the sample reported being members of trade unions and many respondents reported that they had "never heard of trade unions or did not know that they exist for farm workers" Others reported that they had become disillusioned with unions and had left.
• 24% of workers interviewied kniew about WIETA and 18% Fair Trade which the report argues is "indicative of their weak penetration in the wine sector and perhaps their limited effectivity".

The study highlights concerns about union access to workers and inadequate enforcement of labour legislation. The report recommends that existing labour laws should be strengthened and amended in order to better protect and advance the rights of farm workers, especially seasonal women workers.

• The Sectoral Determination should include guidelines in line with the Employment Equity Act, to eradicate gender discrimination in job allocation, hours of work, housing, etc. 
• The Sectoral Determination should protect farm workers against unlawful gratuitous deductions. 
• The Sectoral Determination must clearly define and regulate the use of work targets on farms.
• The Sectoral Determination must state that seasonal workers who have worked on a farm for the season, have an automatic guaranteed right to employment on that farm in the next season. 
• The LRA amendment that gives permanent status to temporary workers who work continuously for three months must be applied equally to farmworkers, despite the seasonality of their work. 
• In keeping with the constitutional right to family life, ESTA legislation on tenure security should explicitly prohibit farmers from charging extra rent for children over the age of 18. 
• Legislative amendments are needed to provide better protection to migrant workers. 

According to the report:

The research indicates that there is widespread violation of laws that were introduced to protect and advance the rights of farm workers. Ranging from farmers still not paying the minimum wage to not providing toilets and clean water in the vineyards to not providing workers exposed to pesticides with protective clothes to preventing workers’ rights of association, farmers are systematically flouting labour laws. Farmers are also adept at identifying and abusing any caveats in the law – for example, introducing targets in order to avoid paying the legal minimum wage. 

The 4Dialogue team will seek to publish responses to this report from different actors active on the Social Dialogue Platform for Decent Work in Agriculture.

Improving working conditions in the Kenyan flower industry - Lessons on Valentine's Day

An insightful article in today's issue of The Conversation by Lara Bianchi from the University of Manchester examines how conditions in the fast growing Kenyan flower industry have slowly improved for its predominantly female work force. As noted by Bianchi this has not been an easy journey: 

At the outset women faced systemic inequalities which made them vulnerable workers. These included poor labour conditions, the violation of health and safety rules and sexual harassment. The product upgrading, along with concerted campaigns by human rights activists, NGOs, trade unions and the buy-in of business led to a sea change in the women’s working conditions.
The reforms show that when a broad range of stakeholders come together substantive changes can be made in favour of vulnerable women workers. In line with the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, big corporations can be transformative in contributing to social justice for women workers. In a collaborative effort, the business community has a great opportunity to step in and lead the change.

In global labour markets characterised by casualisation and extenalisiation  many Kenyan flower producers now employ workers in the industry on permanent contracts and removed obstacles to women joining unions. This involved a concerted campaign to improve conditions in the industry which has important lessons for agribusiness in South Africa.

Bianchi reports that

The range of actors involved in the campaign brought a raft of changes across the industry. Sound gender policies on workers’ rights, training, promotion and grievance procedures were introduced. Social auditing involving local NGOs, trade unions and human rights organisations helped identify specific issues facing women workers on particular farms.
Thanks to specific gender policies on workers’ rights and grievance programmes, as well as to a decisive product upgrading, many Kenyan flower growers underwent a crucial switch from temporary to permanent contracts. This meant that women workers were now members of the unions, thus giving them access to another main channel to grievance and remedy.

Read the full story in The Conversation 

Impacts of the drought on employment in Western Cape - 50 000 out of work soon?

In a recent article in Business Day Agri-Western Cape CEO Carl Opperman is quoted as stating that Western Cape farmers have recorded 14 billion in losses as a result of  back to back droughts. The article forecasts that "an estimated 50 000 people could be out of work soon". According to Opperman the employment losses would primarily be experienced  by seasonal workers who would  either be employed for fewer months, or who might not find work at all.

The drought has forced officials to impose strict water restrictions, and the agricultural sector, which is the largest consumer of water, has had its supply curtailed by between 60% and 87%, Opperman said:"Both the fruit and vegetable industries have been hard hit by the drought and water restrictions. In the Ceres area, for example, the limited water supply resulted in 50% less onions and 80% less potatoes being planted this season. This impacts on food production and wage losses of millions of rand for seasonal workers."

Photo: Ashraf Hendricks: Ground Up

Similar concerns were also reported in October 2017 by provincial CoGTA which highlighted the risk of "civil unrest" as an estimated R40 million rand in agricultural workers wages had been lost as farmers cut back on new planting and harvests fell. 

How will the drought impact on advancing a joint programme for decent work in the agricultural sector?  

Potentially the imapcts are enormous as producers and workers experience hard times. Putting such a programme in place requires that producers, workers organisations, state and civil society organisations remain in productive conversation to improve conditions on farms. The drought and projected layoffs risk placing these relationships under intense strain and raise the level of conflict risk in the sector.

Can the drought present an opportunity?

Despite the risks identified above these diificult times can also be regarded as an opportunity to intensify and deepen  multilateral conversations. Not everyone has subscribed to doomsday scenarios. Patrick Dowling highlights that:

"Realising that world‚ national and local leaders can do only so much‚ people have started working co-operatively and innovatively. There are domestic‚ street and faith-based responses‚ workplace plans and initiatives to support frail and vulnerable. As people work together‚ mesh talents and develop trust more dots are joined‚ giving issues of sustainability and co-operative solutions new meaning and practical application".

These initiatives need to integrated into the agricultural landscape. There are are many things this protracted drought can teach us. It will be important for producer bodies and the provincial department of agriculture to communicate clear and reliable information about the impacts of the drought and to project how these impacts could play out for different commodities and in particular localities.

A wide range of actors need this information so that joint responses can be developed,  solutions found, implemented and monitored. Hard times should provide the cue to open up spaces for dialogue and communciation rather than closing them down.