AGRICULTURE NEWS - A protest by farmworkers outside Oak Valley Estate near Grabouw is now in its seventh week.

The strike action is being led by the Commercial, Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union that is demanding better wages and living conditions for farmworkers.

According to Trevor Christians, the union’s general secretary, the workers were demanding that the single-sex hostels in which they were housed be demolished and transformed into family homes.

Furthermore, workers also demanded that the estate no longer make use of labour brokers, and that the employment of all seasonal workers, who had worked on the farm continuously for more than three months, be converted to permanent positions.

According to Christopher Rawbone-Viljoen, managing director of Oak Valley Estate, the management team had decided in May 2018 to close down the hostel in favour of recruiting farmworkers residing in Grabouw.

Read the full article here on the Caxton publication, Farmer's Weekly.