Centre for Labour Education and Organising
15 June 2010
On the 12th of June 2010, the Prime Minister, Dr. N. Ramgoolam, called a press conference wherein he took a firm and positive stand against the attitude of the MSPA and publicly declared that the CCM's recommendation of a 20% increase over three years to be reasonable. The Prime minster also warned the sugar bosses that they would have to bear severe consequences if they did not agree to the recommendation. The leader of the opposition also came out in support of sugar workers.
On the 24th June the MSPA, finally signed an agreement with non agricultural unions in the Joint Negotiating Panel. A separate agreement was concluded with the agricultural union SILU. The agreement provides for the following;
A staggered salary increase as follows:
- As from 1st January 2010 – 11 %
- As from 1st January 2010 – 3 %
- As from 1st January 2011 – 3 %
- As from 1st January 2012 – 3 %
- An ex-gratia compensation of Rs.5,000 to be paid in two equal installments covering period July 2009 to December 2009.
The agreement also provides for increased maternity benefits, sick leave, meal allowance, annual leave and funeral cover.
The agreement with Sugar workers is very significant and is a culmination of a struggle that started in 2008. Sugar workers were (for the first time) very determined to strike. The battle forged unity between workers in the sugar Mills and agricultural workers who plant and harvest sugar.
SILU Declares war against Sugar Employers
14 May 2010
SILU (Sugar Industry Labourers Union), a member of the Southern African Farm Workers network and three other unions have declared a dispute with sugar sector employers over wages and other conditions of employment. The four unions have formed a joint negotiating team and submitted joint demands to the Mauritius Sugar Producers Association (MSPA). The unions, SILU, Union of Artisans of the Sugar Industry (UASI), Artisans & General Workers Union (AGWU) and Organisation of Artisans Unity (OAU) represent the majority of workers within the industry.
Employers pleaded poverty and refused to disclose information on their profitability as provided for in the Section 41 of the Employment Relations Act of 2008. The dispute has now been taken to the Mauritian Commission for Conciliation and Mediation (CCM). Negotiations are currently being facilitated by the CCM.
If unions are not happy with the Commissions recommendation, they can opt for strike action or refer the dispute for aribitration by the Mauritian Employment Relations Tribunal (ERT). The ERT's rulings are binding on both empolyers and unions.
About SILU
The Sugar Industry Labourers’ Union (SILU) was formed in September 1969 as a result of militant struggles and mobilisation by by the militant trade union activists. The struggles were a revolt against the conditions of near slavery suffered by sugar workers. Wages were extremely low, there was no security of employment. The union was finally registered in 1970.
SILU is affiliated to General Trade Unions Federation (GTUF). The Federation is in turn affiliated to the National Trade Unions Confederation which is one of the largest Confederation in Mauritius.
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More than 600 members of the Swaziland Agricultural and Plantation Workers Union (SAPWU), who are employed by the South African-based global pulp and paper company SAPPI are set to lose their jobs.The evicted family are still out on the street, the Municipality refuses to take responsibility and hence 50 leases where farmers pay R50 per annum for leasing the farms from Stellenbosch Municipality comes to an end this year. I’m waiting on the list of farms, but there’s no way that these leases can be extended. This family must be restored in their home, there was an agreement between the municipality and the company that houses be transferred 6 months after the move to Idas Valley. The farmer and Municipality cannot get away with this.
We would like to propose to urgently meet on Tuesday 25 May at 14h. We asked the Women on Farms Project to avail some space for the meeting. This is to develop a collective strategy (responses to this leases, evictions that continues and agrarian reform as organisations and movements who want to see the people whom we serve live dignified lives and are not deprived to their right to a fair justice system that is not bios to any class.
We await your urgent response.
Yours in solidarity
Wendy Pekeur
General Secretary Sikhula Sonke
P O Box 311 STELLENBOSCH 7599
98, Bird Street
Stellenbosch 7600
Tel: 021 - 8833180
Fax: 0865468071
E- mail: wendy@ssonke.org.za
Lack of intervention from government forces us to become “criminals”
Press Release 20 May 2010
Farm workers from different areas restored a family’s right to dignity last week when they’ve put them back in the home they were evicted from. The family were deprived of the right to have access to alternative accommodation and their kids right to shelter when they had no where to go and they’ve spend an entire night outside in the stormy rain with their belongings.
Sikhula Sonke General Secretary had been formally charged on Tuesday 18 May to appear in Stellenbosch Magistrates Court on Friday 21 May.
Farm workers across South Africa developed a national farm worker position in 2009 which stated that evictions will be resisted until land has been redistributed to those who work the land. The family who were part of an entire community of farm workers and dwellers had been moved from Knorhoek Wine Farm ten years ago to Idas Valley on the outskirts of Stellenbosch. The families did not want to move at that time but were forced to vacate the farm. Most houses were bulldozed and the land was sold to make space for a big wine cellar.
Sikhula Sonke got hold of a letter from the Head of Planning and Development from the Municipality to the Owner of Knorhoek dated 15 July 1999 which stated that the houses be transferred to the workers. In a minute of a meeting of the emergency committee in the council chambers which included former Mayor Willie Ortel, Acting Chief Town Planner, Town planner and others it clearly stated that the Council’s decisions were incentive to the community and that ownership be given to the intended occupants. In a Memorandum of Understanding between the Municipality and Mr. James Van Niekerk Director of the company it was agreed that all property should be “vervreemd” and as we understand by seeking advice as to what it means we were informed by an Attorney that it means transferred to the occupants before or on 1 June 2000. None of this has happened. We met with the Mayor of Stellenbosch Municipality Mr. Cyril Jooste yesterday and we took the family with their belongings to him, he told us that there is no emergency housing and that its not the Municipalities responsibility. The family are still out on the street, nor the Municipality nor Department of Housing whom we approached wants to intervene. A source from Stellenbosch Municipality informed us that 50 leases of farms who are leased from the Municipality comes to an end this year and that the farmers who leased the land pays R50 per annum for the leases. We demand that the leases are not extended, the land be made available for agrarian reform and that all unused land owned by the Municipality be put aside for evicted farm workers and landless people in the Stellenbosch Region.
Please join us farm workers, members of Sikhula Sonke, COSATU, Jonkershoek Crisis Committee, Surplus People’s Project and others at Stellenbosch Magistrates Court from 8h30 am.
“We can only loose our chains”
For more information contact:
Sikhula Sonke General Secretary Wendy Pekeur
Tel: +27 (0)21-8833180
Cell: +27 (0)82 4515235
E-mail: wendy@wfp.org.za
or Organiser Grace Khakane on +27 (0)83 5661465
Sikhula Sonke evicted by Worcester Municipality, been targeted and put in disrepute by the Mayor Mr Charles Ntsomi
Press Release, 12 May 2010
Sikhula Sonke had been evicted by the Municipality from the building we shared with Rawsonville Advice office. Several attempts were made to resolve the matter, but we were unsuccessful to date. Our office equipment are still in the building. The Mayor had rather went and put the Organisation in disrepute, banned us from the refugee camp where we have members and us who are working and who the voice one of the most vulnerable groups in our Society had become a target of the Mayor and many others.
Please join us at Worcester Municipality from 12h today where the Mayor will come and receive a memorandum at 13h. We are then proceeding to Ceres to put a family who have been illegally evicted back in their home.
“We can only loose our chains”
For more information contact:
Sikhula Sonke General Secretary Wendy Pekeur
Tel: +27 (0)21-8833180
Cell: +27 (0)82 4515235
E-mail: wendy@wfp.org.za
or Organiser Grace Khakane on +27 (0)83 5661465
About Sikhula Sonke
The independent, women-led trade union, Sikhula Sonke (“We Grow Together” in isiXhosa) was founded in Western Cape province in 2004. It operates as a member-driven trade union dealing with all the livelihood challenges of especially farm-women. Sikhula Sonke’s area of operation is concentrated in Stellenbosch, Grabouw, Villiersdorp, Franschhoek, Ceres, Rawsonville, Paarl and Wellington. The current membership is more than 3500 persons and is made up of more than 120 farms.
The overall strategic objective is to build organisations of farm-women which are led by farm-women, and fostering a self-sustaining organisation among farm workers. Mostly women workers, including seasonal, temporary and migrant workers, are organised around issues of labour rights, land rights, food security, women's health, domestic violence and alcohol abuse as well as gender equality.
Sikhula Sonke’s overall goal is to craft an organisational model that will not only challenge the unfair labour practices experienced by women farm-workers, but will also more broadly address the social and economic development needs of women who live and work on farms. To achieve this, the members of Sikhula Sonke engage in collective action and draw their power from grass roots mobilisation as well as linkages with national and international organisations, such as the Southern African Farm Workers Network.
The environment in which Sikhula Sonke operates remains very challenging. Despite the legalization of trade unions for farm workers, the level of trade unionisation among farm workers is still unacceptably low (less than 5 per cent), leaving workers vulnerable to exploitation. For women workers, the challenges are particularly harsh. Making up the majority of seasonal and casual workers in the sector, women remain largely unrepresented in most unions in the absence of organising strategies targeted specially at the majority of temporary/seasonal workers. Women are therefore almost completely absent in the leadership of these unions. Thus, issues that particularly affect women are largely neglected by mainstream trade unions. In order to ensure a lasting representation of women farm-workers in its union structures, Sikhula Sonke adopted the principle of women leadership.
The organisation employs five key constituencies in their work – making use of grass root structures – which at the same time aim at institution building: the building farm committees, the formation of Branch Executive Committees (BEC) and organising National Executive Committee (NEC) meetings once a month, as well as entering recognition agreements with the farmers in order to secure access to farms, and finally, collective bargaining.
Sikhula Sonke ensures an adequate servicing of its members in various ways, through stimulation and execution of campaigns and lobbying events as well as training for members and their engagement in capacity and skills building programmes.
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Farm workers are the most numerous of all workers in the Southern Africa region but also the most marginalised and exploited. Agricultural restructuring under globalization has worsened the position of farm workers, leading to mass evictions, lowering of wages, employment conditions and increased use of more casual, seasonal and labour broker workers. Women constitute just under half of all farm workers and invariably make up the majority of the most vulnerable workers.
