TAWUSA was not a member of the bargaining council. The dispute existed in relation to the employer wage proposals made at the bargaining council, to the trade unions members of the bargaining council. This was subsequent to an interdict that had been granted by the Labour Court in favour of TAWUSA, preventing PUTCO from persisting with a lock-out against employees who were members of TAWUSA. The Transport and Allied Workers Union of South Africa (“TAWUSA”) whose members were employed by PUTCO, appealed to the Constitutional Court, subsequent to a decision by the LAC that PUTCO was entitled to lock-out TAWUSA members. ![]() Despite a number of decisions in lower courts, the right to lock out has now been comprehensively dealt with by the highest court in the land, and this judgement has settled two conflicting judgments handed down by the Labour Court and the Labour Appeal Court (“LAC”) on the same matter. ![]() A lock-out in response to a strike which is being held in relation to an existing dispute is considered a defensive lock-out. Generally, if the members of a union have not embarked on strike action and the employer elects to locks out its employees, this is termed an offensive lock-out. The case dealt with the rights of an employer in terms of section 64(1) of the Labour Relations Act (“LRA”), which affords an employer the right to lock-out employees where there is a dispute of mutual interest between the parties. On 8 March 2016, in the case of Transport and Allied Workers Union of South Africa v PUTCO Limited ZACC 7, the Constitutional Court pronounced that an employer may not impose an offensive lock-out in respect of members of a union who are not party to a bargaining council, in which a dispute has arisen and where other union members have embarked on a strike. Transport and Allied Workers Union of South Africa v PUTCO Limited ZACC Non-striking employees not to be locked out: limitations of the employer’s right to lock outīy Bradley Workman Davies, Director, Werksmans Attorneys
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |