Effective Representation: Whereto for Workers on Fruit and Wine Farms in South Africa?

Abstract

This article draws on empirical research that reveals the role played by farmworkers’ committees in the fruit and wine farming sectors in the Western Cape of South Africa, where trade union density is extremely low. It examines the legitimacy of these committees as a form of worker representation, with reference to relevant domestic labour legislation, common law, International Labour Organization (ILO) instruments and key private social codes, including the international Fairtrade Standard for Hired Labour. In the process, the relationship between the public and private governance instruments in the sector is considered. Farmworkers’ committees are found to fall through a regulatory gap between the different governance systems, highlighting their lack of integration and legal recognition. This is notwithstanding their potential to fill the representation gap which exists for many workers on farms. The article concludes by proposing a new approach to regulating these committees, primarily with a view to promoting more effective but still legitimate organizing and collective bargaining for all farmworkers, in the absence of representative trade unions. Freedom of Association, Collective Bargaining, Representation Gap, Low Union Density, Good Practice Farms, Western Cape Farmworkers, Fairtrade Standard for Hired Labour, South Africa