Farworkers strike has a negative effect on the economy

Imogen Vollenhoven
10 January 2013

 

Police fired rubber bullets to repel hundreds of rock-throwing farmworkers during a strike for higher wages today. 

Police and farmworkers fought running battles along the N1 highway, halting traffic and shutting off a number of towns.

Protesters near De Doorns set barricades on fire and threw rocks, stones and debris at police vehicles, prompting officers in riot gear to respond with a volley of rubber bullets and tear gas.

Labour Analyst Loane Sharp said the strike is having a negative effect on the economy.

Sharp adds that the effect on the economy is very severe, it may seem that once the strike is over that things will return to normal but in fact export contracts are put at risk, supply chains through the domestic economy are interrupted.

Sharp said that the damage from theses farmworkers strikes on the economy is very significant and it really disturbs South Africa’s reputation, as one of the world’s foremost producers of fruit.