Labour conditions in the South African wine industry have been a contentious issue for decades. This directly links to SDG 8 which stipulates decent work for all. A large proportion of South Africa’s wine production is exported to markets in EU. Governments, consumers, and NGOs in these markets are demanding wine that is produced in a socially responsible and ethical manner. Therefore, several ethical trade initiatives have arisen to ensure compliance with fair labour practices. This case study will assess the impact of these initiatives relevant to wine exports from South Africa to the EU.

Some of the key findings include:

• Performance and profitability of the South African wine sector is under pressure.
• The sector is highly export orientated.
• Relative high trade barriers for South African wine in the EU market.
• Numerous research and reports have focused on the labour conditions in the South African wine sector. Common themes are the casualisation  and externalisation of farm labour, the position of migrant and female labour, wages and benefits, as well as working and living conditions.
• There are currently three voluntary social standards of relevance in the local wine sector: Wine Industry Ethical Trade Initiatives (WIETA), Ethical Trade Initiative (ETI), and Fair Trade International. The two former standard schemes are locally developed. As where most global social standards focus on small-scale farmers, these standards focus specifically on improving the labour conditions of farm workers. Previous studies show their impact has been mixed.
• There should be a better alignment between local labour policies and global practices and standards
• The local labour inspectorate performs poorly and should be improved to better enforce on-farm compliance with local labour laws.
• The linkage between social standards and local agricultural development policies and initiatives should be improved.
• International social standards should include farm workers.
• Price premiums for compliant wine products will enhance profit sharing along the wine value chain and will assist in covering the cost of compliance.
• Compliance with social standards will lead to a more content and better motivated workforce on wine farms as well as more efficient labour practices.
• Standard setting procedures should be more inclusive and break away from the existing top-down power relationship in the wine value chain.
• A living wage is not an integral part of all social standard schemes.
• International social standards schemes should better align with local labour policies.
• Improve the international recognition of local socials standard schemes.
• The costs of compliance and audits should be more equally shared along the wine export value chain.
• Increased market access for compliant wine farms.
• Compliant wine farms are preferred employers.