The Labour Court will on Tuesday deliver judgment regarding Solidarity’s application to have the Metal and Engineering Industry Bargaining Council (MEIBC) placed under administration in what the union says is a bid to save the bargaining council from bankruptcy.
The trade union on Friday lodged the application, owing to the ongoing financial crisis in which the bargaining council had been plunged over the past few of years, as well as the inability of parties in the council to come to an agreement on a number of issues.
About 340 000 employees and 10 000 companies fall under the MEIBC.
Solidarity felt that the bargaining council’s financial position had rendered it unable to perform its dispute resolution function “for quite some time”, with the trade union requesting that an administrator be appointed to see that prospects that the bargaining council could become solvent and functional again, would materialise. The MEIBC management’s funds and bank accounts must also form part of the administrator’s brief.
“Urgent steps have to be taken to improve the bargaining council’s financial position to ensure its future,” Solidarity deputy general secretary Marius Croucamp said.