In the wake of violent strikes at a South African packhouse, the stakeholders in South Africa's recently formed Laborie Dialogue Initiative (LDI) have reconfirmed their commitment to establishing a representative social dialogue platform. 

The group invited like-minded civil society groups to join it in working toward 'sustainable transformation of the rural economy' and to coordinate and share initiatives to improve agriculture's economic viability.

The LDI was formalized in June 2015 when the industry organizations Vinpro and HORTGRO, representing the wine and deciduous fruit industries respectively, and the Food and Allied Workers' Union (FAWU), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).

The parties are committed to six focus areas - economic development, social development and upliftment, human resource development, market access, development and trade promotion, knowledge management and information systems, and technical research, transfer and intelligence.

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) agreed to participate with the initiative, whilst AWETUC, representing several unaligned unions, is currently considering joining the LDI formally.

In a release, the LDI said it "unanimously rejects" the recent violent strikes and the destruction of property in the Ceres area, referring to the events at Ceres Fruit Growers (CFG).

"Stakeholders agreed that the opportunism and political exploitation for short-term gain that has been experienced in recent years during events like these, should be exposed and that those who make themselves guilty of intimidation, violence and damage of property should be held accountable for their actions," LDI said.

"Continued violent and destructive actions are perpetuating historic stereotyping and misperceptions of the various stakeholders at the expense of workers and employers and cannot be condoned."

The LDI also called on the media to fairly report on events in a balanced way, adding misinformation and exploitation of vulnerable workers by third parties via the media had been 'highly problematic' in recent years.

In addition, the group encouraged "constructive workplace engagement" and finding of constructive solutions and welcomes the CCMA's proposed workplace mediation procedures the agricultural sector. The procedure will be piloted in the next three to four months in the Western Cape fruit sector.

This pilot forms part of the Fruit Industry Social Compact (FISC) developed by the Fruit Industry Value-Chain Round Table (FIVCRT) process under the auspices of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) and Fruit South Africa.

A similar round table has been recently established by the wine sector, in which common issues such as the development and implementation of best practices and procedures to deal with many rural challenges will be addressed jointly by the two round tables.

"The LDI is considering approaches by various stakeholders to join the original group to work towards inclusiveness and fast track similar processes on a national, provincial and regional level," it said.

"Stakeholders are convinced that joint and transparent initiatives such as the LDI is the only way to pave the way towards a new dispensation through which huge socio-economic challenges in rural areas could be addressed."

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