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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has noted with alarm the response by the Transvaal Agricultural Union (TAU) and others to government and the National Minimum Wage Commission’s decision to increase the national minimum wage.

TAU’s threat to retrench workers because of this adjustment to the national minimum wage is intolerable. This reveals a disturbing level of entitlement and ruthlessness on the part of the leadership of TAU and others.

To a certain extent, this righteous indignation from TAU is understandable. For centuries in this country, farmers have built fortunes through a crude system of exploitation that has seen farm workers treated like glorified salves. 

This hysterical response by TAU is reminder that there is still modern-day slavery thriving on our farms. Not only do workers experience extreme exploitation, but they also suffer from physical and psychological abuse in the workplace. Their precarious working and living conditions amount to one step above the grave. 

The Federation believes that for any economic sector to be sustainable, workers need to be treated with the necessary humanity and decency.  The National Minimum Wage (NMW) Act was legislated precisely because too many employers in the agricultural sector paid their workers pathetic amounts like R5 an hour in some instances.

TAU and its dubious friends are disingenuous and insincere. They argue that their members pay farm workers above the NMW yet when it is increased to account for inflation, they cry murder.  The NMW Commission has proposed a reasonable 4.5% increase in the NMW this year.

TAU is also being economical with the truth because the original NMW amount of R18 for farm workers was agreed to in March 2017 and was only increased in March 2020 by a mere 3%.  They were silent when government and the NMW Commission is failed to adjust it for inflation over three years.

The NMW Agreement was signed by all social partners in March 2017, including the leadership of business which includes organised agriculture, they committed to increasing farm workers from their original pegged amount of 90% of the NMW to 100% of the NMW within 2 years of it coming into effect.  This was deliberately done to give ample time for the industry to prepare and adjust.  It was a compromise reached by trade unions at the request of business to cushion the agricultural sector through its transition.

 This two-year period ended on the 1st of January 2021.  The commitment to equalize farm workers has been known for four years. If organisations like TAU were to be entertained and pacified, then farm workers will never be allowed to earn the full NMW.

If they were genuine, they would not demand a blanket exemption for the entire industry, but they would assist those employers who genuinely cannot afford to pay the NMW to exercise their rights under the Act and apply for up to a 10% exemption.  They have the right to do so, as long as they have consulted their workers and their unions and submit their financial statements to prove they cannot afford to pay the full NMW.

Instead of blaming farm workers’ legitimate desire to provide for their families for the serious challenges the sector is facing, it would be better for TAU to contribute to the rapid implementation of the Agricultural Sectoral Master Plan and to identify measures that could help the industry become more competitive, efficient, and sustainable. 

COSATU is ready to support a campaign by TAU for an increase in tariffs to protect poultry and sugar from dumping. We believe that more measures should be explored to lower irrigation and electricity costs and help farmers to have access to affordable loans. 

Government also needs to assist farmers to have more access to local and international markets and push for more local procurement of farming products. Our rail and ports infrastructure needs to be revamped so that we are more competitive, as a country.

TAU has a right to lobby for more policy interventions and for improved infrastructure from government, but farmers do not have a right to their own slaves. The minimum wage is here to stay, and the threat to mechanise and retrench workers should be countered by policy interventions.

Mechanisation should not be used to perpetuate poverty and inequality and should not be imposed with no regard for local economies. Government needs to protect all those who are being pushed aside by technological advancement.

If the South African government gives in to the demands by TAU, it will perpetuate the apartheid separate development and the system of oligarchic capitalism that the agricultural sector in South Africa was built upon. 

Issued by COSATU