The Rural and Allied Workers Union has called a slight increase in the minimum wage for farm workers disappointing. The Labour Department has announced a 95 cent increase for farm workers and those in the forestry sector today. Workers will now get R14,25 per hour instead of the previous R13,30 per hour. This brings workers’ daily pay to R128,26.

This was in an attempt to compel government to further improve their working conditions.

In 2012 thousands of farmworkers across the Western Cape participated in a series of chaotic strikes, demanding better wages.

Yesterday, the Labour Department announced an increase of 95 cents in the minimum wage of labourers and those working in the forestry sector.

The department says it couldn’t increase the amount to R150 a day due to the threat of job losses.

The union’s chief negotiator Nosey Pieterse says the deal is outrageous. Pieterse says farm workers’ plight has been ignored since they first started protesting for better wages in 2012.

“Farm workers continue to earning the lowest of the low wages. we won’t stand for it,” says Pieterse.IOL