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Unions dealt a major blow as labour court rules yet again in favour of SABC over retrenchments

Details

sabcBL Premium reports that unions were dealt a major blow on Friday when the Labour Court in Braamfontein dismissed an application for leave to appeal an earlier ruling that the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) retrenchment process was lawful.  

This paves the way for management of the public broadcaster to proceed with job cuts despite protests by unions.  In December, the Broadcasting, Electronic, Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu) lodged an appeal at the Labour Court to challenge a ruling in favour of the broadcaster over its retrenchment plans.  The union argued that the SABC had failed to engage in a fair consultation process before issuing retrenchment notices.  But the court found that it had acted lawfully and in accordance with the Labour Relations Act.  The union subsequently filed an appeal.  On Friday, the court dismissed Bemawu’s appeal application with costs, finding that there were no reasonable prospects that another court could come to a different conclusion.  The SABC announced earlier in January that the retrenchment process would affect 303 employees across various levels, or about half of the originally projected redundancies.  However, the plan could still be scuppered by communications, telecommunications & postal services minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams, who has made it clear she will not support retrenchments.  Last week the Communications Workers Union (CWU), which also opposes the job cuts, had indicated that its members would down tools on Friday. However, on Friday the SABC advised that programming had not been disrupted.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bekezela Phakath at BusinessLive (paywall access only)


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