BusinessLive reports that Cape Town bus operator Golden Arrow Bus Services is taking Department of Employment & Labour (DEL) Minister Thulas Nxesi to court for extending a wage agreement to employers and employees who are not affiliated to the bargaining council.

After Nxesi recently extended the agreement to nonparties, workers whose employers are not members of the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council (Sarpbac) will benefit from the 4% wage hike deal reached in the council in April. Golden Arrow, which is not a party to the bargaining council, wants the Labour Court in Cape Town to review and set aside Nxesi’s decision, which was published in the Government Gazette on 18 June. In court papers, the applicants, Golden Arrow and Sibanye Bus Services, want the court to declare the notice in the Government Gazette “invalid and of no force and effect”. They also want sections of the Labour Relations Act to be declared unconstitutional and invalid to the extent that they do not require the minister to follow a “procedurally fair process before deciding to extend a collective agreement to nonparties”. The applicants moreover want the bargaining council’s decision to request Nxesi to extend the collective agreement to nonparties reviewed and set aside. Sarpbac’s general secretary Gary Wilson said: “We are going to defend the application because we have done everything according to the law. We have to protect the parties in our council, if we don’t everybody can wake up tomorrow and challenge the minister.” The DEL’s director-general for labour relations, Thembinkosi Mkalipi, confirmed that they had received the court papers and said the application would be opposed.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive

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