Grape workers protest layoffs

THE Namibian Farmworkers’ Union (Nafwu) is opposing a decision by southern grape farm Komsberg to lay off 83 workers as part of a retrenchment exercise.

According to the union, the company has cited a loss of more than N$122 million in recent years as the reason. Workers, backed by Nafwu, have demanded that either the company close down completely, or no retrenchment take place at all.Nafwu General Secretary Alfred Angula said on Monday that the workers did not believe that the company was making a loss.”Grape farming is a labour-intensive affair, so how do they expect to reverse their loss making with fewer hands?” Angula stated.Komsberg farm, stretching about 56 km along the Orange River, has approximately 160 to 180 hectares of grapes and about 100 hectares of hoodia, used for making medicine.It employs 143 fulltime workers, a number which the union says increases to around 1 000 during the harvesting season.Management at the farm contacted on Monday declined to comment, saying they were not authorised to do so by their parent company, the Louis Group in South Africa.Michael Louis, MD of the group, then promised to get back to the newspaper, but yesterday sent a written response that the company was not prepared to speak to the media about the issue.”The Komsberg Farming Board has resolved that this matter is sub judice and is currently with the Labour Commissioner.We would therefore like to withhold any form of press statement at this stage,” Louis wrote.The Namibian understands that the company recently informed the union that its 2007/08 financial year was affected by adverse weather conditions.The company apparently lost about N$10 million in that year.According to the company, the norm for the grape industry is one employee per three hectares, whereas currently Komsberg has one employee per hectare.This, according to the company, constitutes an excessive labour force.Nafwu has further criticised what it said was the company’s negligence to provide employees working and living on the Komsberg farm with housing and toilet facilities.Workers, Angula said, were forced to make their own reed homes and toilets, despite the Labour Act of 1992 stipulating that employers should provide housing to workers living on agricultural land.”With these unbearable and unhygienic conditions, these workers produce first-class grapes for export overseas.Once you see the conditions in which these people are living, one has to think twice about buying these grapes,” Angula said on Monday.”It is not clear whether the companies overseas that buy these grapes are aware of the conditions in which the workers live.Nafwu will start a campaign to expose the working conditions of the workers of Komsberg and in the grape industry as a whole,” he said.He said the Ministry of Labour would soon be requested to investigate the grape industry and its labour conditions with regard to housing, water and toilet facilities.Workers, backed by Nafwu, have demanded that either the company close down completely, or no retrenchment take place at all.Nafwu General Secretary Alfred Angula said on Monday that the workers did not believe that the company was making a loss.”Grape farming is a labour-intensive affair, so how do they expect to reverse their loss making with fewer hands?” Angula stated.Komsberg farm, stretching about 56 km along the Orange River, has approximately 160 to 180 hectares of grapes and about 100 hectares of hoodia, used for making medicine.It employs 143 fulltime workers, a number which the union says increases to around 1 000 during the harvesting season.Management at the farm contacted on Monday declined to comment, saying they were not authorised to do so by their parent company, the Louis Group in South Africa.Michael Louis, MD of the group, then promised to get back to the newspaper, but yesterday sent a written response that the company was not prepared to speak to the media about the issue.”The Komsberg Farming Board has resolved that this matter is sub judice and is currently with the Labour Commissioner.We would therefore like to withhold any form of press statement at this stage,” Louis wrote.The Namibian understands that the company recently informed the union that its 2007/08 financial year was affected by adverse weather conditions.The company apparently lost about N$10 million in that year.According to the company, the norm for the grape industry is one employee per three hectares, whereas currently Komsberg has one employee per hectare.This, according to the company, constitutes an excessive labour force.Nafwu has further criticised what it said was the company’s negligence to provide employees working and living on the Komsberg farm with housing and toilet facilities.Workers, Angula said, were forced to make their own reed homes and toilets, despite the Labour Act of 1992 stipulating that employers should provide housing to workers living on agricultural land.”With these unbearable and unhygienic conditions, these workers produce first-class grapes for export overseas.Once you see the conditions in which these people are living, one has to think twice about buying these grapes,” Angula said on Monday.”It is not clear whether the companies overseas that buy these grapes are aware of the conditions in which the workers live.Nafwu will start a campaign to expose the working conditions of the workers of Komsberg and in the grape industry as a whole,” he said.He said the Ministry of Labour would soon be requested to investigate the grape industry and its labour conditions with regard to housing, water and toilet facilities.