Engineering News reports that following dismissals by the Labour Court (LC) and the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) of the National Employers Association of SA’s (Neasa’s) applications for interdicting the extension of the Main Agreement in the metals and engineering industry, the employer’s association plans to file a petition at the Constitutional Court (ConCourt).

The original LC judgment dismissed Neasa’s application to interdict the extension of the Main Agreement to nonparties pending a review of the Metals and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council’s (MEIBC’s) decision to request Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi to so extend the agreement. According to Neasa, the court dismissed the association’s review grounds despite the fact that “the review was not before the court to consider.” The ConCourt petition will seek to appeal the judgment of the LC so that the review grounds can be heard afresh. “The review application was neither ripe for hearing, not set down for hearing by any party, nor allocated to the judge for hearing, nor argued before the judge,” Neasa pointed out. The association is of the view that the LC and LAC rulings constitute a breach of Neasa’s right of access to courts, in terms of Section 34 of the Constitution. Nxesi gazetted the extension of the Main Agreement to nonparties on 7 October last year, making it legally binding on all employers in the industry to pay a minimum wage to metalworkers, among other conditions. The agreement was supported by five of the biggest trade unions in the industry, along with 18 independent employer organisations, as well as the Consolidated Employers Organisation.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard at Engineering News

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