A court ruled that the eviction of 146 striking Cape farmworkers was unlawful and ordered they be reinstated to their hostels.
|||Cape Town - A court ruled on Monday that the eviction of 146 striking farmworkers in Moorreesburg was unlawful and ordered they be immediately reinstated to their hostels.
The workers, evicted from hostels at the JF le Roux Group-owned Broodkraal Estate, approached the Moorreesburg Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
Bawsi Agricultural Workers Union of SA general secretary Nosey Pieterse said the court granted an interim order for the workers to be allowed back to the hostels, with a return date of November 29.
The court also ruled that the company not interfere with the workers.
The workers had been fired after taking part in a strike which the group said was unprotected.
“We had suspended the strike. Now that we are done with this case we will focus on the strike,” Pieterse said.
Le Roux group financial manager Gerrit de Beer said he was aware of the interim court order granted in their absence. “Based on newspaper and social media reports, it appears that Bawusa has instigated these proceedings. The application makes reference to a number of employees that were allegedly evicted. These allegations are untrue.
“The Le Roux Group has given notice of its intention to oppose this application and has also anticipated the return date of the application, which will be heard this week,” De Beer said.
The dispute erupted as Bawusa embarked on a strike over “unilateral changes in working conditions”. It accused farmers of deducting additional costs for rent, transport, electricity and protective clothing after they were forced to up the minimum daily wage from R69 to R105, rendering it meaningless.
In some cases workers earned less than before the December-January strike.
These claims have been supported by the Food and Allied Workers Union. Its provincial organiser, Sandile Keni, said despite not embarking on the strike, Fawu members were confronted by unresolved issues from the previous strike and some that arose after a sectoral determination. These included farmers paying workers under the R105/day sectoral determination prescribed by the Department of Labour.
But Keni said when they polled Fawu members at a general meeting attended about 2 000 people in De Doorns earlier this month after the call by Bawusa, many “were clearly not prepared to go on strike”.
Agri SA president Johannes Möller said complaints of changes in working conditions and payment were caused by a misunderstanding, where farmers felt they had explained to workers about changes and workers agreeing without understanding the nature of these.
He said such allegations had been reported to them but upon investigation Agri-SA did not find any wrongdoing.
“Our own policy is that farmers should pay a living wage. It doesn’t make sense to expect labourers to work better if they are not earning a living wage,” Möller said.
He said according to the law, farmers were allowed to deduct 10 percent for housing.
If employers were deducting more than that or had other illegal transactions, workers had the right to go to the CCMA, Möller said.
xolani.koyana@inl.co.za
Cape Times