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Engineering News reports that the Labour Court has dismissed an application brought by the National Employers Association of SA (Neasa) and the SA Engineers’ and Founders’ Association (Saefa) to declare Section 32(1) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) unconstitutional and halt the extension of the Main Agreement of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC) to nonparties.
In June, a meeting of the MEIBC resolved to request the Employment and Labour Minister to extend the agreement to nonparties, whereupon Neasa and Saefa launched their urgent court application to halt that process and have the enabling section of the LRA declared unconstitutional. In a rebuke of the applicants, acting Judge Sean Snyman struck down their application in its entirety and ordered them to pay the respondents’ costs. In his judgment, Snyman pointed to Neasa’s consistent efforts since 2014 to scupper any attempt to extend the Main Agreement of the MEIBC to nonparties. Neasa said in a statement following the court judgment that it did not “spell the end of the road, but it is, in fact, only the beginning”. The association advised that it intended to pursue all legal avenues to prevent or set aside any extension of the Main Agreement. Neasa explained that it strongly advocated for every employer to decide the wage level of its staff, based on its own operational needs. It was also against the self-proclaimed right of businesses, situated in economic hubs, to force upon small businesses a similar wage. The MEIBC Main Agreement allows small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) to gradually phase in their wages, upon these businesses applying for such an exemption.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News
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