Violations of farm workers’ labour rights in postapartheid South Africa
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Date
2019
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Development Southern Africa
Abstract
Commercial farm workers in South Africa endured centuries of
exploitation and abuse until the 1990s, when progressive
legislation was promulgated that confers rights to workers aimed
at improving their living and working conditions, including
through a sector-specific statutory minimum wage. However,
violations of labour rights are widespread in the agriculture sector,
and farm workers are arguably more vulnerable than before as
they face ongoing evictions, casualisation and exploitation. This
research study, conducted among women farm workers in the
Western Cape and Northern Cape provinces, documents labour
rights violations in the areas of wages and contracts and
occupational health and safety. Apart from farmers themselves,
government is responsible for failing to enforce compliance with
pro-worker legislation, while trade unions have failed to represent
farm workers and hold farmers and government to account.
Description
Keywords
Commercial agriculture, Farm women, Labour legislation, Minimum wage, Seasonal workers
Citation
Devereux, S. (2019). Violations of farm workers’ labour rights in post-apartheid south africa. Development Southern Africa, doi:10.1080/0376835X.2019.1609909