N1 remains closed in De Doorns
2013-01-18 08:31
Cape Town - The N1 highway remained closed at De Doorns, the
epicentre of a farmworker strike, on Friday morning, Western Cape police said.
Lieutenant Colonel Andre Traut said there were no reports of
violence but groups of people had gathered in the area.
Traffic was being diverted through the town.
Thousands of striking workers marched for kilometres along
the same stretch of highway on Thursday afternoon, braving extreme heat to
protest for a daily wage of R150 and a coherent land programme.
The march was led by the Black Association of the Wine and Spirit
Industry (Bawsi), which represented a large number of non-unionised workers.
The strike, which started last year, was suspended in
December but resumed last Wednesday in various towns in the province.
The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) announced a
week-long suspension of the strike on Tuesday, on condition that Agri SA honour
commitments to "local-level" agreements and agree to stop the
victimisation of workers.
Cosatu's Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich said the
suspension excluded De Doorns, because workers there were standing by their
demands and were not open to negotiation.
The agriculture department estimated the number of permanent
and seasonal workers in the province at around 200 000.
Of these, only five percent were said to be unionised.
- SAPA
