The Social Dialogue Platform for Decent Work in Agriculture (DWIA) recently held a well attended workshop in Paarl on the 12th and 13th of April. This was the seventh workshop in a series hosted by the platform which is convened by the Ethical Trading Initiative (UK), the Labour and Enterprise Research Unit at UCT and Phuhlisani NPC.
The latest workshop marks the close out of this phase of work to promote social dialogue as part of the decent work agenda. To date the programme has been funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. ETI and its partners are now looking for opportunities to take this important work forward.
Much of the journey to date has been recorded on the 4dialogue blog which has provided reports and resources linked to each of the seven workshops.
The initial workshop was held on 3 November 2016. This enabled a wide range of people involved in social dialogue initiatives to come together to share information and to explore the need for a platform to try and link, explore issues in common and to add value to the various individual initiatives. Participants at this workshop proposed a number of ways in which social dialogue could be deepened in the fruit and wine sectors in the Western Cape. A range of shared issues and priorities were identified which included farmworker housing, access to services and tenure security as well as freedom of association and collective bargaining. The subsequent workshops in 2017 and early 2018 have focused on these two themes.
The second workshop in the series aimed to convene a reference groupmade up of individuals and organisations which would provide guidance and oversight of the platform activities. This initiative was not greatly successful, primarily as many individuals committing time to the process were already heavily committed. So the platform activities developed more organically and informally, guided by regular interactions with different groupings – standards bodies, producer associations, trade unions, NGOs and government officials.
The third workshop began to engage with the substantive issues associated with farmworker housing. The workshop drew on research undertaken by Phuhlisani NPC in partnership with the Cape Winelands District Municipality and the Laborie initiative. It also explored national developments with regard to the Phakisa programme which was developing a focus on a farmworker housing and land ownership programme.
It was at this workshop that it was agreed that there was a need for a document to be developed which could form the basis of a joint policy submission to government, given the findings of the research that currently there was no coherent policy on farmworker housing and its development on and off farms. Phuhlisani NPC was tasked with incorporating analysis and proposals emanating from the research and the workshop sessions to prepare a draft submission for further discussion and potential endorsement by the different stakeholders represented on the platform.
Workshops 4-6 focused on an area where little progress has been made – that of the promotion of freedom of association and the advancement of collective bargaining in the agricultural sector. Unlike the housing issue, representatives of producer bodies, employers, trade unions and NGOs started far apart from each other on this difficult and complex issue. In order to hear all the voices and to enable individuals to speak freely the DWIA platform organised workshops specifically for different stakeholder groupings.
Workshops with unions and NGOs focused extensively on how unions could overcome obtacles in order to secure access to workplaces on farms to organise workers. Unionists and NGO representatives at these workshops highlighted a range of attitudes and behaviours of employers and HR practitioners which they argued prevented them from accessing farms and engaging with workers. They highlighted widespread hostility to, and fear of union organisation by employers.
Workshops held with employers and producer associations highlighted the mixed range of responses to union activity in the agricultural sector. In some instances wortking relationships had been built with trade unions which had secured organising rights and some winecellars and fruit packhouses. However individual producers often articulated a reluctance to engage with unions – many of which were regarded as difficult to negotiate with due to their perceived militancy. Producers also cited trade union fragmentation in the sector and instances of competition between union bodies to capture the subscriptions of organised workers. There was a widespread sense that many unions failed to deliver tangible benefits to their membership. This prompted many employers to support the development of worker committees on farms.
In our seventh and final workshop in the series we brought all the parties together to reflect on the journey and identify practical interventions to address key issues. Participants discussed and provided in principle endorsement of a draft housing policy submission. Participants reviewed the findings of research conducted by LEP investigating good practice around freedom of Association and collective bargaining. They met together to identify practical steps which could be taken to advance freedom of Association and to enable the strengthening of worker organisation and voice on farms and workplaces within the fruit and wine value chains. A list of undertakings is available in the workshop record of discussion.
To ensure that this work remains publicy available we have now assembled a repository providing one-stop access to all the resources and presentations made throughout the workshop series. These include full records of discussion for each workshop. You can access the repository here and click on any card within the repository to view and download resources.
If you have participated in the process and want to comment on progress and make proposals to improve impact going forward please complete the short survey here.
ETI, LEP and Phuhlisani thanks everyone for their generous contributions to the process. Watch this space to hear how things will be taken forward.
The latest workshop marks the close out of this phase of work to promote social dialogue as part of the decent work agenda. To date the programme has been funded by the Commonwealth Foundation. ETI and its partners are now looking for opportunities to take this important work forward.
Much of the journey to date has been recorded on the 4dialogue blog which has provided reports and resources linked to each of the seven workshops.
The initial workshop was held on 3 November 2016. This enabled a wide range of people involved in social dialogue initiatives to come together to share information and to explore the need for a platform to try and link, explore issues in common and to add value to the various individual initiatives. Participants at this workshop proposed a number of ways in which social dialogue could be deepened in the fruit and wine sectors in the Western Cape. A range of shared issues and priorities were identified which included farmworker housing, access to services and tenure security as well as freedom of association and collective bargaining. The subsequent workshops in 2017 and early 2018 have focused on these two themes.
The second workshop in the series aimed to convene a reference groupmade up of individuals and organisations which would provide guidance and oversight of the platform activities. This initiative was not greatly successful, primarily as many individuals committing time to the process were already heavily committed. So the platform activities developed more organically and informally, guided by regular interactions with different groupings – standards bodies, producer associations, trade unions, NGOs and government officials.
The third workshop began to engage with the substantive issues associated with farmworker housing. The workshop drew on research undertaken by Phuhlisani NPC in partnership with the Cape Winelands District Municipality and the Laborie initiative. It also explored national developments with regard to the Phakisa programme which was developing a focus on a farmworker housing and land ownership programme.
It was at this workshop that it was agreed that there was a need for a document to be developed which could form the basis of a joint policy submission to government, given the findings of the research that currently there was no coherent policy on farmworker housing and its development on and off farms. Phuhlisani NPC was tasked with incorporating analysis and proposals emanating from the research and the workshop sessions to prepare a draft submission for further discussion and potential endorsement by the different stakeholders represented on the platform.
Workshops 4-6 focused on an area where little progress has been made – that of the promotion of freedom of association and the advancement of collective bargaining in the agricultural sector. Unlike the housing issue, representatives of producer bodies, employers, trade unions and NGOs started far apart from each other on this difficult and complex issue. In order to hear all the voices and to enable individuals to speak freely the DWIA platform organised workshops specifically for different stakeholder groupings.
Workshops with unions and NGOs focused extensively on how unions could overcome obtacles in order to secure access to workplaces on farms to organise workers. Unionists and NGO representatives at these workshops highlighted a range of attitudes and behaviours of employers and HR practitioners which they argued prevented them from accessing farms and engaging with workers. They highlighted widespread hostility to, and fear of union organisation by employers.
Workshops held with employers and producer associations highlighted the mixed range of responses to union activity in the agricultural sector. In some instances wortking relationships had been built with trade unions which had secured organising rights and some winecellars and fruit packhouses. However individual producers often articulated a reluctance to engage with unions – many of which were regarded as difficult to negotiate with due to their perceived militancy. Producers also cited trade union fragmentation in the sector and instances of competition between union bodies to capture the subscriptions of organised workers. There was a widespread sense that many unions failed to deliver tangible benefits to their membership. This prompted many employers to support the development of worker committees on farms.
In our seventh and final workshop in the series we brought all the parties together to reflect on the journey and identify practical interventions to address key issues. Participants discussed and provided in principle endorsement of a draft housing policy submission. Participants reviewed the findings of research conducted by LEP investigating good practice around freedom of Association and collective bargaining. They met together to identify practical steps which could be taken to advance freedom of Association and to enable the strengthening of worker organisation and voice on farms and workplaces within the fruit and wine value chains. A list of undertakings is available in the workshop record of discussion.
To ensure that this work remains publicy available we have now assembled a repository providing one-stop access to all the resources and presentations made throughout the workshop series. These include full records of discussion for each workshop. You can access the repository here and click on any card within the repository to view and download resources.
If you have participated in the process and want to comment on progress and make proposals to improve impact going forward please complete the short survey here.
ETI, LEP and Phuhlisani thanks everyone for their generous contributions to the process. Watch this space to hear how things will be taken forward.
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