Farmers should be prepared for further wage strikes from
December 4, warns Cornie Swart , president of Agri Western Cape.
After the wage trial of the Department of Labour in
Worcester, Swart urged farmers to prepare themselves for further wage strikes
from that date. At the hearing for employers, the hall was full of farmers from
as far as Vredendal, Stellenbosch and Ceres.
"Before we leave this hall today, we want to know what
the Department of Labor is going to do about December 4," Swart said,
followed by applause from the audience
Mr. Thembinkosi Mkalipi of the Department of Labor has on
more than one occasion, however, made it clear that his department's
activities have nothing to do with December 4. The last public hearings will
take place on the 13th of December in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.
One of the farmers stated that he had the capacity to
realize a net farm income of about R7000 per ha in an average year. "My
wage expense in the same year is about R7000 per ha. A 100% wage increase means
that I will have no net farm income and therefore I can't afford any
investment, expansion or development. "
Ehrenreich warns about strikes
Adjustments of the sectoral minimum wage can only occur if
all of these trials have been completed, but the Western Cape leader of Cosatu,
Mr. Tony Ehrenreich, said that the striking workforce were expecting a final
answer on a new minimum wage by December 4. "Otherwise the strike will be
resumed with more intensity," Ehrenreich warned in the second week of the
initial strike.
A farmer from the Koue Bokkeveld told Landbouweekblad after the completion of
the trial that the uncertainty around December 4 does nothing good for the
discussions or the disposition of the parties involved. "Everyone is
nervous and the uncertainty just makes all the players unwilling to commit
themselves to a solution to the dispute. However, we hear that the most recent
talks between the unions and the representatives of organized labor ended
positively, so we will continue to hope for a peaceful solution."
The second week of riots on farms in the Western Cape forced
farmers to make investments of a different nature. Thousands of rands are spent on private security guards,
private helicopters and patrol vehicles to secure farms.
These companies are particularly visible in the Ceres and
Koue Bokkeveld area where many fire damage to farmlands, orchards, implements,
tractors and buildings are done, as well as in the De Doorns area.
The safety of the inhabitants on farms in the Western Cape has
suddenly become a luxury.
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