The Star reports that a set of labour guidelines viewed by some as the government’s attempt to curtail workers’ right to embark on strikes have been set aside by the North Gauteng High Court.

Gazetted by then labour minister Mildred Oliphant in December 2018, the guidelines made it illegal for unions to embark on strikes before conducting secret ballots among members. The guidelines came into effect on 1 January 2019 and gave unions 180 days to amend their constitutions to include secret balloting to ascertain whether members favoured a strike. At the time, the Labour Department warned unions that they faced deregistration or being placed under administration if they failed to comply. Many unions criticised the government for what they viewed as an unjustified limitation on the right to strike. Later in 2019, the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (Amcu) took the department to court, seeking an order declaring the guidelines illegal on the grounds that Oliphant had acted on legislation inapplicable to the passing of guidelines that imposed mandatory obligations on unions. Amcu argued in court that section 95(8) of the Labour Relations Act allowed for the issuing of guidelines, but Oliphant had passed the guidelines in terms of section 95(9) of the Act. The contention was that Oliphant empowered herself through inapplicable legislation to introduce guidelines that impose mandatory obligations. She therefore acted without legal authority, Amcu maintained. Judge Nicoline Janse van Nieuwenhuizen ruled in the union’s favour in a judgment delivered last week and set the guidelines aside.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Bongani Nkosi at The Star

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