Working Paper

Crew Members in South Africa’s Squid Industry: Whether they have Benefitted from Transformation and Governance Reforms

“Although crew members form bedrock of the squid industry, they have not benefited from the transformation and governance reforms because: the harvesting technique necessitates incentivisation of individual effort; they are highly mobile; and the industry is exempted from revised labour legislation. As a result they have been unable to organise for laying claim on benefits. As they unionise to strengthen their bargaining position, the conundrum is how to maintain incentive practices on which the catching sector is based while asserting their rights. The challenges is re-structuring the sector to improve quality of employment while maintaining individual crew member productivity incentives.”