Labour Programme

On commercial farms in the Western Cape, women’s labour is increasingly casualised/seasonalised, with growing numbers of women working under more insecure and precarious conditions only WFP’s Labour Rights Programme aims to capacitate women farm workers to know, claim and realise their labour rights and dignified work

Trained farm women activists act as resourcses in their communities and farms where they provide advice and assistance to other farm workers whose labour rights are violated

The programme also supports farm women activists to advocate and lobby the government to ensure that the labour rights of women farm workers are realised and that systemic change is lobbied for

Because of the seasonality of women’s labour, the programme also capacitates and supports women to improve their household food security by starting agro-ecological food gardens (e.g., supplying seeds, equipment, and AE training)

The LRP creates spaces for women to become self-reliant by articulating and securing their needs in dealing with their living and working conditions

Current projects/services provided in bullet point form

  • Recruitment
  • Capacity Building Training – workshops with a focus on Labour Rights Training
  • Government engagements with activists
  • Mass-based events to influence policy and legislation
  • Research
  • Campaigns
  • Casework
  • Advocacy and lobbying
  • Establishing area-based Labour Rights Forums
  • Learning Exchanges
  • Value Chain Round Tables
  • Mentoring and support
  • Monitoring and Evaluation
  • Annual National Farmworker Platform
  • Workers Day
  • World Food Day

Major achievements over the past year:

The LRP managed to train ninety women on A&E in 2021. Seeds and equipment were given to all women which resulted in seventy-four food gardens established with mentoring and support given to the said women. The food gardens help to tie them over during the off-season to feed their families.

Another victory for the programme was the reinstatement of twenty individual seasonal worker women.

Forcing an employer’s hand to register a fatal accident at the compensation Commissioner exposes non-compliance with labour legislation.

Assisting a couple to negotiate a retrenchment package for twenty-four years of services on a farm. Coupled with that we secured a new build two-bedroom house off the farm resulting in securing their tenure of ownership of the house. I can send you a picture of the couple in their new home. ReadMore

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