South African police fired rubber bullets to disperse hundreds of striking farmworkers in the grape-growing Western Cape on Wednesday, the first clashes in a year that looks set to be dominated by fractious labor relations.

Striking farmworkers set up barricades and threw stones at motorists and police in a South African province whose vineyards are vital to the wine industry, prompting riot officers to close roads and arrest at least 50 demonstrators, South African media reported.

Africa's largest economy saw waves of labor unrest last year that began in the platinum mining industry and swept through the trucking and agriculture sectors.