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4IR and mechanisation threaten the livelihoods of unskilled South African farmworkers. (Photo: Reuters/Charles Mostoller)

Farmworkers and 4IR

Permanent jobs are shrinking in the farming sector

Nipping it in the bud: Farms like this one in the Hex River Valley face an uncertain future.

Farmers and workers hamstrung by state

Farmers have responded to state efforts to legislate labour relations by leaving the sector or mechanising and restructuring their workforces.

Farm workers union Csaawu should be saved

Union Csaawu is facing bankruptcy for supporting farm workers dismissed after historic strikes in 2012/ 13. This is why the union must be saved.

Fanning the flames: Striking farmworkers are said to have targeted those trying to help the sick and injured. (David Harrison)

Comment: Violent strike compromised medical care

The Western Cape health department responds to the findings of a survey on access to healthcare among farmworkers during protests published last week.

The country must strike a careful balance between its political views and what is in the best interest of its economic and financial systems.

Not all peachy on farm jobs front

Employment is stable after the minimum wage increase, but the figures are deceptive.

Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich addresses striking farmworkers in De Doorns.

Farm unions pull together – for now

We are on the same side, we just manage different views, says Cosatu’s Ehrenreich of rival farmworkers’ union.

Ehrenreich denied that he had been officially approached by any other federation and would not elaborate on the overtures from Saftu.

Cosatu: We are calling the farmworkers’ strike off

The Western Cape farmworkers’ strike has been called off, says the trade union federation’s provincial secretary general Tony Ehrenreich.

Sour grapes for farmers, workers

Complex and varied factors are at play behind the unrest in the Cape farmlands, writes Lynley Donnelly.

De Doorns: Police action breeds hostility

De Doorns residents have claimed they had nothing to do with the strike but have been brutalised, writes Benjamin Fogel.

Man dies from rubber bullets during W Cape farm protest

A man died after he was hit by a rubber bullet during clashes between police and striking farmworkers in the Western Cape, said a police spokesperson.

Farmworkers’ strike: No silver bullet for rural unrest

Agriculture does not hold the solution to ending rural poverty, experts say, and improving lives will take more than a simple wage increase.

Police fire rubber bullets on striking De Doorns farmworkers

Western Cape police have fired rubber bullets at workers in De Doorns protesting for better wages, says a police spokesperson.

Wage disputes have turned into violent protests that are spreading throughout the Western Cape’s agricultural areas

Cosatu: Western Cape farm protests to intensify

Farmworkers in the Western Cape will intensify their strike in the coming week, said Cosatu’s Tony Ehrenreich.

As violent protests broke out in the Western Cape grape valley

Farm protests: Unions, DA plead for government intervention

Labour protests across the Western Cape are due to intensify as various players in the saga, including ANC allies, plead for government intervention.

As violent protests broke out in the Western Cape grape valley

W Cape government: Defuse farm protests Minister

Labour Minister Mildred Oliphant must act decisively to stop violent farmworker strikes in the Western Cape, said the provincial government.

De Doorns strike: Media in the line of workers’ ire

Police and angry farmworkers have been fighting running battles in the wineland areas of De Doorns. But the battles were not only against the police.

Western Cape farmers concede to union negotiations

Some farmers have agreed to wage negotiations with unions, following violent strikes that erupted in parts of the Western Cape.

Agri SA: Western Cape farmworkers’ protest ‘politically motivated’

As farm protests flare in the Western Cape grape valley, Agri SA president Johannes Moller considers the unrests to be ‘politically motivated’.

A police captain was also injured when the farmworkers’ strike resumed on Wednesday

Western Cape farm protest: Journalist’s car set alight

Protesting Western Cape farmworkers overturned and set fire to a journalist’s car during the strike in De Doorns for higher wages.

At least 50 Western Cape farm protesters arrested

At least 50 people have been detained when the renewed farmworkers’ strike for better wages in the Western Cape turned violent.