to a Large Sugar Estate in Natal

SALDRU FARM LABOUR CONFERENCE

SEPm.ffiER 1976

Paper No.2

Labour Problems

~nerta1ning

to a Large Sugar Estate in Natal

.J •

F. Potgieter

Preliminary Draft : No portion of this paper may

be

quoted without penn:ission of Saldru,

_-

.

^.

School of Econcrnics, Uni versi ty of

Cape

Town.

Maidston~,

July 1976⁰

LABOUR PROBLEMS

APPERTAINING TO A LARGE SUGAR ESTATE

IN NATAL

BY

J. F. POTGIETER

I N T ROD U C T ION

The South African Sugar Indu~try, provide~ jobs ~or 175 000 South Africans of all race~. In sugarcane 9r9win9 activities i t em- ploys 106 000 people. Of thepe, a~proximately 102 000 (9.1,%) are African labourers. With~n the cane growing sphere, the large miller-cum-planter estates can be seen as distinctly separate en- ti ties from the pri vatelyown,:Q farm's. The approximate areas farmed by these two sectors of the cane growing industry are as follows:

Miller-cum-Planter eptates 67 149 hectares, Private White farmers ' 271 741 hectar~s,

Private Non-White farmers 50 002 hectares, Total 388 892 hectares.

,

The miller-cum-planter operations are classified as being part of industry, and by law they may not house more than 3% of, their African labour as married men. This restriction does not apply to the private farmer. The miller-cum-planter estates are hence forced to rely to a large extent on m~grant labow;-,wii;:l'). all its attendant problems. It is agl;l.i~st this background that this paper . is presented, in order to attempt to highlight the proplems peculiar

to migrant labour in the Sugar InQus~ry and ~he result q which have ,been obtained with various polutions which have been tried.

DIS C U S S ION

A

shortage of labour must be seen as the primary labour prpblem for the S,!-gar Indust~y. This labour shortage has come about for a number of reaSons. Competi tton haq intensified from indl,lstry, ' the mine~ ~ cons~ructio:r in.dust~ies and oth~r 'or<;ranised agricul- tural.operations. In ad~ition, the T,ranskeian Government is also employing increasing numbersQf its own people. This ,situation

; . . . • < . :

has beep aggravated by the political upheavals in neighbouring African countries.

Competition for la:pour from the Trarlskei, which has been for years the Sugar +ndustry Is tr"adi tional source of labour, has, naturally resulted in very rapidly escalating wages. The Agricult~al

Industry has always fqund 'it very difficult to compete directly with industry on wages paid. For this re'ason, if fo.1;:' none other, i

1:

has become of paramount imp(;)!;-tanc~ to make the Sugar Industry attractive to the Pondo in-all aspects. 'In addition to these reasons of competition, labQur·is alSo undo)lbtedly showing

a

preference for easier, less physically demanding work.

"

Thrp Pondo male from the rural areas of theTFanskei is by nature an agriculturalist and wishes to he at home over the Spring and Sl,fmrner period when h,e cuI ti vates, plants anq harvests his crops ⁰ He traditiQnally has only presented himself for work after he has

I

fulfilled his obligatio~s at home. ~ The Pondo, understandably, does npt ;J.ikf! them:;i.grant system which deprives him of his family life, and he will go to work anywhere else in pr~ference to becoming a migpant worker. Private farmers are generally able to house a large proport:;i.on of thei,r African personnel as married men. As a result, '

farmers in the Sugar Industry are noi::; experiencing anything like the Same pifficu1ties with re~ard to labour shortages as are the Mill-cum-PlantEir operations. The first approaches toa solution t9 tl1is problem of labour shortage had obviously to be madEj! in the area of recruiting.

It

I

I

Mill:er-cum-Planter organisations hi3-d, in the past, always under- taken their own recruiting. The first $tep towards ri3-tiona~is-

ing and streamlining the recruiting effort was in the formation of the Sugar Industry Labour Organisation.

THE SUGAR INDUSTRY LABOUR ORGANISATION

The Sugar Ind~stry Labour Organization, known as SILO, was .inaugur- ated in July 1971 and became 9perative in midr 1973. Apart from co-ordinating the recruiting efforts of all Miller-cumrPlanters south of the Tugela River, SILO has beep able to standardize basic wages, tasks, acco~modation~ feeding, welfare and conditions of

service.

SILO has the task of supp+ying the ~ull labour requirements of its twelve member companies - 20 000 recruits per annum.

cial year 1974/75, only 17

qoo

recruits wer~ supplied.

In, the fin an.,..

Member companies notify SILO mont~ly as to their labour requirements, these requirements are tljen ~istributed by quota to the various SILO

distr~ct man~gers and labour ag~nts. SILO has branch offices in the traditional recruiting areas of the Trans~ei. These offices are under the supervi~iop 9f district managers reporting to the head office in Port Shepstone. All the distr~ct managers hQ~d Labour Agents licences with endorsements tq recruit for all sugar companies.-

An integral pus service is also 9perated by SILO. This runs from Umtata to Lusikisi~i, where i t connects witn member company buses.

Besides this recruitipg function,·SI~O plays an important liaison role between:

The employer anq the employee, the employee and his family,

the employers and the Tra~skeian goverrymept,

independent recruiters 9nd the Transkeian government.

In order to overcome the s~asonal fluctuation in tl:l.e manner in which Pondos presented themselves for wqrk,in tlje Industry, and to prov~de

·

SILO with a rational basis of operation, a number of radical changes had to be made in the plqnning and programming of work 'and in th'e drawi~g up of a recruiting plan.

REDESIGNED REC . ..;;.;..;.RU,.;;..;;.;.I....;.T~IN~G..;..,· 2~~

" .

The situation which tended to occur, not only at Tongaai;:, but 'at most sugar farms'in Natal, was ~n extreme peak in labour re-

quirement~ in November and an extreme valley in March.Cons~quently,

labour either could not be' detained during the peak pe~iod, or E;'!xcessive labour was recruited to cpver peak periods,which ob- vi~usly r~sulted in additionai costs.(see Appendix 1)

During the p~ak peri09, heavy demands are made pn the labour force with the planting and cultivation.programmes be~ng at their height.

Conversely, availability of the Pondo workers reaches its peak in approximately March and is in an extreme vaLley during November- DecemberQ (see Appendix 2)

At Tongaat:, an attempt has been made to even out the seasonal w;ork- load to make i t compatible with the traditional pattern of labour availabilitYe This has been done by 'out of season' plqnting us- ing fi~tercake as a seed covering medium and by careful programming of ir.r;igatedor sandy' fields to be planted in the winter seasono In this way, the bulk of planting could be done before the' onset of Spring rains. The remainder of the planting. programme was then postponed until

th~'end

of the

h~rve~ting

season. (see

Appen~ix

3)

A further ~olution to oyer coming the seasonal fluctuation in labour strength was to offer incentives ,to Pondos who were prepared to take a seasonal contract.

,

TONGAAT SEASONAL CONTRACT SYSTEM

Normal cane cutters' contracts a,re for a duration of 180 shifts.

Oncethese~' have been completeq, the workf;~r will return to his homeland. Usually a large numbe,)::' of worker$ would return to the

e I

I

I

homeland many months before the cutting s~ason was complete, and at a time when new contract wo+ker$ are di£ficult to recruit (see Appendix 1). To alleviate this probl~~, th~ Seasonal Contract System was introduc~d at Tongaat.

The Seasqnal Contract is for ~20 shifts (40 more than the norwal contract). A worker can only take a Seasonal Contract during the months of M,arch, April ~ MaYOr June ~ (rf he were ~o tpk~ i t eq.rJ,.- ie+ than this" i~ would last longer than the cutting se~son, again defeating its purpose).

Incentives offered for this seasonal contrgct, are:

a) An extra 30c per day (from ~2;00 up to R2,~0 per day),

b) A bonus on completion of the cont~act, ~qual to two weeks' pay, c) Privileds:/ed ac~ommodation on the s~ction 'where he is employed.

A condition of the sea~onal contr?ct is that the cutter must cut at least 800 tons in ~20 days (I.e. he must averag~ more than 3,q t:ons .per day).

At present this ~easo~ Tongaat has 220 ~easonal cane cutterso

SUPERVISIQN

,

Problems are experienced at the level of' first line White supervision.

These are because of:

a) Poor communica~ion, particularly because of language difficulties, b) A high turnover rate qf first lire ~hite supervisors, due to

promotions anq ou~side opportunitle~, ,(Tongaat has fOf ~any

years acted as ~ training g~ound for young White m~n entering sugarcane management).

c) In~orrect attitudes and a lack of understanding of Pondo cus- toms on the part of White staff.

To overcome th~ problems-outlined above, a number of steps have been tak~n: Wh~rever possible, new White recruits have been re- quired to, have a high level of ,pr,?fici~~cy in Xhosa or Zulu.. For those staff members who are not proficient in the languages, in- struction has been p~ovided both through the medium of language labo,ratories, and of i,ndividua;!. tuiti~n th.r0ugh Black instructorsc High level Black lecturers have been introduced to talk to all levels of White management, to bring about attitudinal changes and

,

to furtre.r; understandj,ng of Pondo customs. Management tr~ining

, has been provided

On

an ongoing basis.

THE PONDO WORKER

Because of the 100% turnover rate from the migrant system, the pondo has very

.

^' l~ttle time to apply the basic skills and training needed to improve his performance on the job. The new recruit haq to pe fitted into the organisation and given a clear under-

-

.

stanqing of the work he must fulfill. In order to overcome these

I g" . , ~

probleIfls, Tongi'iat has s~t up a sophisticated induction and training centre.

RECEPT~ON

&

TRAINING CENTRE

The new recruit arriving from the T,ranskei at Tongaat finds himself welcomed at the Reception Centre, where he spends the ~ightf The next day, i3.fter undergoing a complete n;edical examination ancd havil1g his employjt\ent d,etails collated, he moves to the Training Centre which adjoins th~ Reception C~ntre.

days at the 1'raining Centre.

He wil;!. s~end the next three

The first day will consist of a general induction to the company_

He w;LII vndergo two induction lectures, using slides and tapes • . These cover, ajt\ongst other subjects, company policies, discj,pline,

I __ -" .. , . _ . , . . : • _ I - ~

wages, bonuses, incentives, taxSttion, channels of cummunication

(including the fLmction of Liaison Committees), Family Aid schemes

~

(including the remittance of money), recreation and welfare, con- ditions of service, safety and personal hygiene.

---~----- - -

I

/1

After lunch, the n,ew re,cruit will be taken on an orientation trip by bus. He will visi t the mill t;,her,e he wlll see sugar

b~ing

made

and he will also see the Group nospital.

The

seco~d

day of his training will

con~ist

of lectures

u~ing

slides, and practical exerci ges on

b~sic

jop skillp

~uch

as

~ane

eutting, lqading and

pund~ing

of cane, weedtng, weedtcide

sprayi~9, 9a~e

of tools, fertilizer appilcatlon,'etc.

8~;fore

completion of their course, all new recruits

a.l!'~

given a re- flex test. I1':\ addition to determin;i.ng reflex ab:j,U,. ty, tpis test also determines hand/eye co-ordination.

9n

th~

third day, the new recruitp go gut into the field and actually cut; and load cane

~s

they will

50011

be doing on their sections. Thif?

is pone under the s-qpervision of defllonstrators who

,co,rF~ct

faults, etc. Thereafter the new men are awarded q G!ertificate of Completion

" I

and are then sent to the,ir respective cane

sectto~~.

Because he is a mig',rant workep, the Popdo is cut off fr9m 1)i5 home an,d family. He often leaves home because food and money ¥e short and he is

th~n

naturally concerned as to the

welfC\~e

of 1)is family ..

He neeclstc be able to commup.tcate with his, family anq,

~f

lfeces'sary, must be able to travel home. Ip order to qvercome theSie problems Tongaat; has intFoduced a

Fami~y

Aid Scheme whereby

fam,ili~~

needing cash

urg~ntly

(as ,in the

cas~

of

~ickness)

are advanced th.tsmoney immediately by tIte locat

arel:lmanag~r

of SILO.

+hi~

money il3 then subsequently

ded~cte~

from the man's

w~~es

at

~,is p~qce

of work.

~

Money Remittance Scheme is proviqed, wherepy a

~o,r~er ~ay

$end moneY home to his family at

reg~la+

intervals. HeapproaGhes qne

~f

tpe +ecruiting clerks with the qfllount

WPtC~

he

wishe~

to remit and details of the person to whom mopey isbeil1g sentr,

~ddress,etc.

A voucher with these details is them sent, via 811;.0, to the nearest

, ,

area manager qr reGruiter,who trqvels to,the man'S home apd delivers the mqney.

"All employees

,inc~udingmigrat;ory

workers

,arecov~red

by'tongaat

Group life ins,urance.,' The r,elatives of any man who dies while in

Tong&at.'s employment, will re<;:ej.ve a payment of twelve month's wages~

A communcation scheme has been established, owing to the fact that 'ropgaat employs nearly 4 200 men :i,n agr,icul tural work, and the

possibi~ity existing that once a man has been employed here, h~

'vanish,!,s' from his familyo It is nearly impossi1?le to.trace p.

map by name only. It also happens from time to time, that a man d0es not arrive at his place of work. As far as. his farnily ~s qon- I=erned, hEl is working at Tongaat, but Tongaat has I1ever heard of l1im.

>. '

To prevent this type of situation from occurr~ng, a preprinted ~ost;",

card is automatically completed and posted ,aft~r a man has bee~ em- ploYed. This card contains the followin9 information: section em- ployed " man's company n1,lmber, which; district manager or recruiter should be contacted' 1:;>y the family-in an emergency, etc.

Medical'.aspects of the migrant labourer at Tongaat are covered by an article written by one of Tongaqt's medical' officers, Dr. N. MoE.

La~ont and attached. (see Appendix 4)

The' ,+nduc:tion and Trainirg' Centre introduces the Pond6 the the ~on­

cept of.\ a <;:::>rrect:!;y balanced diet, which he receives in the hostel to which he ~s posted. (see Appendix 5).

JOB , OPpORTUNI~TIES'

• t,

The Pondo wo~ker has~n the "past been confined to the lower grade

I

~obs in the Sug&r Ind~st~y. There has been little or no oppor- i;;unity fo,t' advancement into the better 'paid, ~ore rewarding jobs

tr&dition~lly held bypermFinently resid~ntZulu or Indi&n males .from,the area. To overcome 'this, a ¢river training programme

has been, considerably expanded &nd Pondos: are being trained in qriving and also in supervision.' 'Men taking up such opport,uni1

ti~s are required to sign

a

contract, for the full season.

B~cq.use of th~

hi9h

training and skill investment, it is obviously" • desirable to get as many as possible of the past'employees to re ...

t\irn to Tongaat for further contracts. In order to encourage

this, systems have been devised whereby past emplayees are able to. gain prefere~tia~ t~~atment far re-+ecruitment and are affered cash incentives and preferentia~ accammadatian i f they affer themselves far a further cantract within a specifi~d time periad.

GENERAL

There ha.s been little ar no. farmal cammunication system, particu- larly fram the Pa~da warker up to. Manqgemente A numbe+ af steps

h~ve been taken tp aver came this prablem~ A periad~cal, the

Nkasibamvu, has been intraduced, which attempts to. keep· all warkers fully infarmed af current events. In additian, newsletters are printed qnd distributed ~n the Tran$kei to. families af migrant warkers currently employed at Tangaat, to. act bath 9-s a prapaganda medium and as a news medium.

A Liaison Cammittee System has been introduyed, wher~by ~lected

member s' sit an a com/TIi ttee where grievances are braught to. the natice af Management. Regular meetings are held with indunas, and, in add~t~9n, seniar SILO persannel are utilized to. canduct investigations into. any grievances which may remain unresalved in particular hostels.'

If the Pondo who hap finished his contract has any grievance ar prablem, these must be cleared befare he returns harne, atherwise he may well damage the campany image in his hqme district. To.

aver came this, exit -interviews are ~anducted with each and every returning recruit. All relevant complaints are na~ed and actian taken.

The Panda men are very clannish and have strang tribal ties which are jealausly guarded. This fact is taken into. accaunt~in that men are encauraged to wark in graups af their awn tribe, cantralled by men wham they rec0gnise a~ being in authorit~ ove~ them. These are usually chiefs' sons in their hame areas, ar indunas.

The Panda migrant needs to be pravided with plenty of leisure time activity, particularly because he is living 1,n an all m9.le comm'l,lnity.

Activities such as saccer, Nd~ama danci~g, fi1/11s, T.V. and an African Club have been set up in recent years.

r" .

I , "

CON C L U S ION

The Miller-cum-Planter sec;tor of the Sugar Industry is almost tota,lly reliant upon migrant Pondo" males to perf9rm the labour

int~nsive work in tts agricultural operation.

This paper has ~ttempted to highlight some of the steps whlch have been taken torecru~t, train and retain the migrant worker as a force in the Indust17Y, in the face of still competition from oth~T industries and of a growing reluctance on the part of the migrant to do heavy manual work.

\

What has become apparent, as the t;empo of change hasinc17eased, . "

is that theFe is no immediate end in sight to the change. Pro-

gramm~s are put in and are ~evised on a frequent basis.

Perh~ps the most significant steps have been the creation of more

a~d more job opportunit~es for the migrant workers within the

orga,n~satiQn structure. These ch~nge,s, together with literacy and other t17aining programmes, can lead "the migrant into play:i,ng a greater: and 9reflter part in the affairs of the Sugar Industry anq in ea,rning due rewards. for his increased contribution.

•

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M A I N TEN A NeE & G ENE R A L

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NON-COMPATIBILITY IN SEASONAL DEMAND ANP SUPPLY OF MIGRATORY

LABOUR IN THE SUGAR INDUSrRY

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APPENDI;X 3 (b)

350 '

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C:ENTS

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P:ER

I ^DAY

225-1

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200-t _{. !}

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1964/~ pS/p 66/7 67/8 68/969/70 70/1 71/2 72/3 73/4 74/~ 75/6 76/7

(Budg~t)

SEA SON

AVERAGE COST PER MAN .PER DAY - NON MANAGERIAL MANPOWER ON AGRICULTURAL ACTIVITIES

"

APPENDIX 4

MEDICAL ASPECTS OF THE MIGRANT LABOUR OF TONGAAT

- ^{- -}

~y

N. McE. LAMONT, M.D., F~R.C.P~ GLASG~

Tongaat Group Hospital, Maidstone,Natal.

" i

The Pando stems from an essentially agricultural society in which the hygiene ahd public health arrahg~ments are primitive, and in which the l~ve;L of ~ducation is also very 1ow. Nevert;:heless,

in making a cqref~l study ofa year's ~ntake of over 4000 ~ecfuits,

I have come to certain con<;:lusions which may be of significance.

1. The state

of

nutritiOn of the Ponqo r~cruits coming to Ton,gaat have been eminently satisfactory. Although these people are not g'iants of men, they are in an excellent state of nutrition, and ~hi$ may be related tq the fa<;:t that c;iieta,ry patterns in

~he Transkei include the consumption of sweetpotataes ~nd

madumpis, in addition totheir't,raditional maize staple diet~

2. On. arriv<;il at Tongaat₁ 'each new recruit is given a thorough medical e{Carri.:j:.nationa,nd is g.:j:.ven, as a rou'tine, a vermifuge and a month'~ course of Vi'l;qmin B compound and Vitqmin C.

He is also innocu;ta,ted' C).gains-t Tetanus and Typhoid.

3. Any recruit suspected of having tuberculosis is subjected to

9n

X~ray and is isolated and is not 'returned to t;:~e compound to which he was originally directed, not=' repatpiated back to the Transkei, until he has been rendered sputum n.egative.

4. It must be borne in minc;1 that'Tongaat has a hot humid climate, whereas the Transkei has a cold climate and thet='e~ore it is most essential that these people are giv~~ a period of physio- logical and dietary acclimatisation. To cut cane in hot,

hu~id conditions_J it is essential t~at these people be given adequate amounts of first class protein and furthermore, their fluid balances mU$t be maintained, bearing in mind that the sensation of thirst is inadequate to provide sufficient fluid

,

^'

2 :=

intake during tht? hot, humid summer of Tongaq.t, and there- fore the workers are encouraged to drink qt frequent intervals and a supply o'f cooled water: is kept available in the fields ,and gelivereq to each,worker at regular interv~ls.

5. It is remarkable how the dietary planning of a large proportion of our in9ustrial labour force has evolved in a hapha:;;:ard and unscientific manner. For example, the giving of a single large meal in the evening predisposes to the development of mipday hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), which not, only lowe~s

work ,output, but increases accident ~ate and, as a result, i t has been pianned that at least two,meals &re,given to these manual labourers during their working day.

The sugar worker begins his working day very early in the morning and b~fore departing for the field, he is given 9 slice of bread and a cup of coffee and then again at 9 a.m.,

.

two high protein'biscuits and a cup 9f tea are delivered to each man in the £ield. This simple expeqient has reduced the acciq~nt rate of these workers supstantially and has fUrthermore delayeq the peak rate of accidents. The evening meal is platl-ned such that these people are given a~equate

amounts of first class protein and calories.

"

This attention to diet has been relpted to an undoubted in- creaSe ~n dailY produGtivity of these people, from 2/2 tons per ,man (and this inGluded every man in the fie+d) to 3,7

". ^\

.

: .L .t.: ~ ~ \_

Furthermor,e , five years ago, only one man succeeded in cutting 1qOO tons per season, whereas last,:

s~ason, ,38 men cut this figure.

6. l have, over the ppst five years, uncovered an interesting I have concluded that i t is probably

d~e to a combination of factors, including an addiction by these People to an excessive amount of daily salt intake, plus the traditional c~n5umption of mahewu.in the fields, This is a sour watery maize porridge which seems to produc~

_ t . ,

a dian;hoea in these subjects. This has been prevented by the midday me~l of twq high protein bisGuits, so bhat not only has the diarrhoea disappeared, but also the incidence of heart failure has fallen very ~harplYe

I

t

I

I:

i

1

~ D

=

~

=

7. As was :found by the l'-1ines, heavy labour places a great demand on Vitamin C in the diet, and compound

diet~

tend to be short of Vitamin

C.

Chopped or drie? vegetables, added to the stews only

20

minutes before serving,have succeeded in ob- viq.t.i,ng th;i.s.

I~

has also beem found by me that sugarcane in itself contains Vitamin C anp the regular chewing of sugarcane in the field has

q prev~ntitive

action against scurvy and is al$o 9f great

b~nefit

to the dental hygiene of these people.

Maidstope, july.

'1'976

NMcE;I,./SC

TONGAAT SUGAR LIMITED - AGRICULTURE MENU FOR AGRICULTURAL MIGRANT WORKERS

BREAKFAST

(everyday except Sunclay)

MORNING MEAL

(every day except Sunday)

(Can ?e given at evening meal i f preferred ).

EVENING MEAL MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

Brown Bread Tea

Sugar

Milk powder

Fortified biscuits Mahewu

Milk powder Tea

Sugar

Milk powdElr

Meat

Dried vegetables Samp

Beans

Salt to taste(about) Curry to taste

Eggs

Curry soup Samp

Beans

"

Salt to taste (about) Meat

Samp Beans

D~ied vegetables Salt to taste (about) Curry to taste (about) Vegetine

Samp Beans

Dried vegetab],es Salt to taste (about) Curry to taste (about) Meat

Samp Beans

Dried vegetab~es

Salt to taste (about) Curry to taste (about) Heat

Sc;tmp Beans

Salt to taste (about)

APPENDIX 5

1/6 loaf 0,5g 40g 109

2

500g per 51 water 109 added to mahewu ,0,5g

40g 109

180g lag 250g 85g 50g

4g 2 15g 250g 85g 50g 180g 250g 85g 109 50g 4g 72g 250g 85g 199 50g 4g 180g 250g 85g 109 50g 4g 454g 250g 85g 50g ~ ;

, /,~ \,~~

• oj \.~ ,..;

" ' ^{~ . '"} _{2/ •••}

J

I

41

SUNDAY

13/711~76 . JFP/SC

Sam]?

Beans - 2 -

Mealie ~eal as Putu Maas

Beer

250g 85g

270g ,5 1.

454g per 5 ! water

rort~fied Biscuits 2

Te~

0,5g

Sugar _ 40g

M~lk Powde~ 10Q