Following the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court’s dismissal of the National Employers Association of South Africa’s (Neasa’s) applications for interdicting the extension of the Consolidated Main Agreement in the metals and engineering industry, the association plans to file a petition at the Constitutional Court.

The original Labour Court judgment dismissed Neasa’s application to interdict the extension of the Main Agreement, pending a review of the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council’s (MEIBC’s) decision to request Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi to extend the agreement to nonparties.

The court also dismissed Neasa’s review grounds despite the fact that “the review was not before the court to consider,” Neasa says, adding that the Constitutional Court petition seeks to appeal the judgment of the Labour Court so that the review grounds can be heard afresh.

The association is confident that the Labour Court was only required to determine the application for an interim interdict, pending the determination of a review; however, the court dismissed the related review application as well.

“The review application was neither ripe for hearing, not set down for hearing by any party, nor allocated to the judge for hearing, nor argued before the judge,” Neasa notes.

The association believes the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court rulings constitute a breach of Neasa’s right of access to courts, in terms of Section 34 of the Constitution.

BACKGROUND

Nxesi gazetted the extension of the Main Agreement to nonparties on October 7 last year, making it legally binding on all employers in the industry to pay a minimum wage to metalworkers, among other conditions.

The agreement is supported by five of the biggest trade unions in the industry, along with 18 independent employer organisations, as well as the Consolidated Employers Organisation.

The initial Labour Court judgment found that Neasa had been consistently trying to prohibit the extension of the Main Agreement to nonparties since 2014, which had led to “constant destabilisation of the industry” and that the case would have no prospect of success in another court.

The Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa, for one, believes a centralised and collective bargaining system is the only way forward for South Africa, since it ushers in an atmosphere of industrial peace and stability.

In turn, Neasa says there are severe deficiencies in the Main Agreement and advocates for every employer to decide the wage level of its staff, based on its own operational needs.

It says an unsustainable minimum wage cost-to-company of R78 an hour for unskilled labour will cause many job losses and company closures.