24 May 2007
Workers and stakeholders in the farming sector in KwaZulu-Natal can rest
assured that the fight against human rights violations is to intensify, while
their working and living conditions will improve.
This comes as the first ever Provincial Agricultural Labour Forum was
launched at Pietermaritzburg today.
The initiative jointly pioneered by officials of the Labour Department and
Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in the province
was marked with resounding commitments from all stakeholders in the sector, who
signed a Provincial Vision for Labour Relations in Agriculture accord.
Key stakeholders in the forum that will be chaired by a provincial labour
official are represented by CCMA, all three union federations [Congress of
South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), National Council of Trade Unions (Nactu)
and Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa))], Agri-SA, National African
Farmers Union and the Association for Rural Advancement.
The key objective of the forum is to identify, promote and monitor joint
strategies and programmes to promote compliance of the law in the sector.
These will include issues of human rights, basic conditions of employment,
labour relations matters, occupational health and safety, skills development,
social security, HIV and AIDS, retrenchments and foreign labour that seems to
be adversely affecting the sector.
The forum will convene its first sitting on 20 June to develop a programme
of action to deal with implementation plans immediately.
Enquiries:
Zolisa Sigabi
Cell: 082 906 3878
E-mail: Zolisa.sigabi@labour.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Labour
24 May 2007
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za)
