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.