COSATU General Secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, meet fisherman at FAWU - Port Elizabeth, 25 November 2005

On 6 October Zwelinzima Vavi, the COSATU General Secretary, addressed a rally in Port Elizabeth at the Great Centenary Hall. At the end of this rally, several fishermen approached him to tell him about the conditions under which they work.

When COSATU had a rally at the same venue to commemorate the life of Vuyisile Mini, a delegation of these workers came to press the General Secretary to hear them out and it was agreed that a meeting should be organised.

Subsequently the Organiser of the Food and Allied Workers Union (FAWU), Hamilton ("Tshawe") Mlunguzi organised a meeting with the General Secretary on 25 November 2005, with some 50 fishermen. FAWU branch office bearers and five labour inspectors from the Department's Port Elizabeth office also attended.

The meeting aimed to determine whether the exemption of fishermen from most of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, a compromise agreed to at NEDLAC, should be revisited. Only Section 41 of the BCEA, which regulates severance pay, applies in this industry. Instead, the Merchant Shipping Act of 1951 applies, unless there is a sectoral determination.

There has however been no sectoral determination to cover fishermen. According to the FAWU General Secretary, the Bargaining Council only covers the Western Cape. As a result, fishermen from the Eastern Cape are covered only by the Merchant Shipping Act of 1951.

The COSATU General Secretary has asked Anton Roskam, of the law firm Cheadle, Thompson and Haysom, to analyse Section 4 of the Merchant Shipping Act to determine the extent to which it protects workers in the industry.

In the meeting, two groups of workers gave verbal accounts - those from "Chokka" fishing and others from so-called "Long Line" fishing.

Chokka is rare fish, and the workers are mostly considered casual, although many have signed on over and over again with the same employer. Some have worked for 15 years or more. The workers from Long Line fish for crayfish and have some semblance of being full-time employees.

Conditions of work in Chokka fishing

1. Chokka fishing workers are employed only for the period of the fishing trip. They sign contracts that cover only the length of their trip on the sea, which can differ. Some boats take 14 days, while others take 21 days. The contracts thus last from two to three weeks only.

2. The boats that stay out for 14 days carry up 14 fishermen. The ones that stay out longer are larger, and typically carry 24 fishermen. Companies generally specialize in one kind of boat or the other. The boats travel up to eight hours out to sea.

3. Pay is pitched to a quota or target, which is written into the contract. To get their pay, the workers must catch enough fish based on the target or quota. In effect, the quota is enough to cover the costs of the boat, including their food and equipment.

4. If the boat doesn't catch enough fish for the quota, workers can earn next to nothing, or even end up owing their employers money.

5. The workers at the meeting said that, on average, three workers die at sea every six months. Most often it is impossible to find a worker who falls off the boat because of the strong waves. Even though the weather forecast covers conditions at sea, employers force workers into rough weather, where they may be injured and or even killed.

6. Other conditions are equally unacceptable. They include:

• Abuse, including beatings, is the order of the day. There are no hearings for anything. Workers are summarily dismissed or even beaten up or verbally abused.
• There is no night-shift allowance or overtime, although shifts last 18 or even the full 24 hours.
• There is no sick leave. If you fall sick or get injured while at sea, you will be given medicine there without any further care. Only Panado is provided irrespective of the ailment. The first aid kit has only aspirin.
• There is no annual leave.
• There is no UIF, medical aid or any of benefit, although tax is deducted from workers' pay.

Conditions in Long Line fishing

1. Workers in this sub sector also suffer summary dismissal. No hearings are held, and the employers often respond to disciplinary problems with beatings and verbal abuse. Racism is a huge problem.

2. The workers are at work from 4 a.m. till 10 p.m. Although the lunch hour is at 12, if there is a run of crayfish the workers eat whilst fishing or not at all. There is no tea break.

3. There is no allowance of any kind, including for spending full days at sea.

4. Workers are forced to go out even if conditions are rough.

5. The food often consists of tinned food with long expired sell-by dates, with bread that has been in the freezer the whole time they are at sea.

6. Accidents happen frequently and on average three workers die every six months, the majority of whom are never found in the sea. In 2004 14 workers were killed when their boat collided with a big cargo ship.

7. It is brutally cold in the sea. Many workers fall sick, often from tuberculosis and kidney infections. A worker at the meeting was said to have urinated blood on one occasion. They say their urine is thick ingathi ngowenkabi yehashe. This is apparently caused by standing in the water and cold.

8. There is a first aid kit but no doctor - you are often provided with pills for stomach pains when you suffering from headaches.

9. The South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) is an institution responsible for inspection and safety, yet most of its officials are white. Workers allege that they accept bribes.

10. Workers have no medical aid scheme. They are forced into the employers' provident scheme. They do have UIF and tax deductions.

11. Workers have 21 annual leave days but since they are seasonal workers the employer grants them leave only in the off-peak season.

12. The employers are white and foreign, mostly from Portugal. When government demanded BEE in ownership to get a fishing quota, the bosses got the workers to front. They were made to sign documents that they own 15% of the companies through a trust. Yet so far they were given only R2000 per year.

13. Since these companies are foreign owned, they ignore rules to preserve fish for the future. For example the rules say if a fish with eggs is caught, it should be thrown back into the water, to produce the next generation. The employers instruct workers to rub off the eggs in case the SAMSA inspectors see them. Workers estimate that come 2015 or 2020 there will be no fish left. They claimed that they now struggle to fill their tanks.

14. Most of these workers have not registered to vote and they say during voting days they battle to get time off to go and vote.