Building a local alliance for change

An ETI project to develop new ways of inspecting labour conditions in the South African wine industry catalysed unprecedented social dialogue and change for workers, leading directly to the establishment of a new multi-stakeholder organisation aimed at tackling workers' employment issues across the agricultural sector.

Why we took action

Although progressive labour legislation in South Africa has been in place since 1993, the legacy of apartheid means that employment conditions in its agricultural sector have been slow to change. Compliance with South African law and international standards is patchy.

An ETI investigation in 1998 found that in many cases, farm workers had poor housing, were inadequately protected when handling chemicals, were discriminated against on grounds of both gender and race, were subject to physical and verbal abuse, and received poverty-level wages.

Pilot inspections bring about concrete change for workers

To help accelerate change for workers, a group of ETI members developed a methodology for assessing wine workers' conditions. Wine producers, NGOs and labour unions in South Africa started to build relationships, and sought support for the work from the South African Government.

Several rounds of audits were carried out at six wineries/cooperatives and their farms, and farms then carried out a range of improvements on the basis of plans developed from the audit reports. This resulted in concrete benefits for workers, including safer working environments, formal contracts for workers where there were none, and upgrading of housing, as well as some inroads into discrimination against women.

At the same time, the audit methodology evolved to incorporate findings about how to get accurate results from audits, including the importance of interviewing workers in a safe space, away from management interference, and of making sure that audit teams have good communications skills.

I was very sceptical of this project early on and I have to say I haven't always supported it. But now I am encouraging my peers to take on board the issues raised as they are important for the future of our business.

Wine cooperative farmer

Building a new platform for collaborative work

The involvement of a wide range of stakeholders in our project was key to its success, and the relationships that were formed stimulated the creation of the first ever multi-stakeholder monitoring initiative based in a sourcing country. The Wine Industry Ethical Trade Association (WIETA) was established in 2002 as a voluntary, not-for-profit organisation aimed at promoting decent conditions for workers by monitoring members' compliance with its code of labour practice - which is based on the ETI Base Code - and by working with site managers and owners to help them improve conditions.

In 2007, WIETA expanded its scope to cover the entire agricultural sector and changed its name to the Agricultural Ethical Trade Initiative (AETI). It continues to work on ensuring that conditions for all agricultural workers progressively improve, so providing a lasting legacy for ETI's work in the region.

AETI's members include retailers such as Tesco, The Co-operative Group and Sainsbury's, as well as South African wine producers, trade unions, NGOs and the government.