Workers expose abuse and unsafe practices at mushroom farm

Workers at a mushroom farm in Bapsfontein yesterday complained about unfavourable working conditions, ranging from injuries on duty, irregular working hours and using dangerous chemicals.

They made the complaints during an oversight visit by members of parliament’s portfolio committee on employment and labour, accompanied by officials from employment and labour, home affairs and the police.

Three undocumented foreign nationals were arrested during the inspection at Country Mushroom Wettlewood farm in Bapsfontein.

Undocumented workers arrested at mushroom farm

The farm grows, packages and distributes mushrooms to retail shops. It has 292 employees, some of which are foreign nationals.

The inspectors had visited the farm previously and found contraventions of occupational, health and safety rules and claims of unreported injuries on duty.

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Department of employment and labour spokesperson Teboho Thejane said: “On this visit we focused on all aspects, Basic Conditions of Employment Act [BCEA], Unemployment Insurance Act and Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act. We also checked the aspect of occupational health and safety.”

Thejane said preliminary findings upon inspecting the paperwork showed the employer was compliant with BCEA.

But during the inspection of the premises, workers complained about unspecified working hours and not knowing how much their overtime allowance was, he said.

Workers complained

Workers also claimed they do not have set working hours, but work according to the loads they have to finish.

“We start work at 7am and are meant to knock off at 5pm, but that is not always what happens,” said an employee who asked to remain anonymous.

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Inside the picking rooms, female employees also demonstrated how they picked up heavy ladders and climbed up them, showing they were unstable and they could fall off them.

Mushroom picker Magdeline Mabetoa said: “There is a process they use of wetting the mushroom bed with a certain chemical before we pick them and that poses a health hazard.

“We inhale that chemical. It makes us dizzy and affects our eyesight. When we complain, they threaten to fire us.”

‘We complain, they threaten to fire us’

Former picker Thembi Mdluli, who was using crutches to walk, said she stopped working as a picker due to an injury. She now works in the laundry room.

“I fell on 9 June this year from the picking room and injured my calf,” she said.

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“The employer took me to the hospital and I was admitted for three days. I was operated on and they inserted a metal plate to join my broken bone. I was off duty for three months. When I got back to work, I was demoted and my pay was reduced.”

Mdluli believed her injury on duty claim was not filed, but Thejane said the department had received it.

“The claim was registered without the knowledge of the employee. It was not reported to the inspectorate, which is important to put in place what needs to be avoided,” he said.

Things that need to be avoided

An inspection into the change rooms revealed women and men used the same hall, with no windows or ablution facilities.

There are only cages for them to keep their clothes in and no curtains to close when they are changing.

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