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GroundUp reports that the Johannesburg Labour Court has refused the Registrar of Labour Relations leave to appeal against an order directing him to register the Simunye Workers Forum (SWF) as a trade union.
The SWF is an off-shoot of the Casual Workers Advice Office and has about 6,600 members, mainly casual workers. Once registered, it will be able to represent its members in disciplinary hearings, wage negotiations and in matters before the CCMA. The forum first went to court after the registrar repeatedly refused to register it as a union. Judge Andre van Niekerk indicated in his ruling handed down on Monday that there were no prospects of success in an appeal. “The reality is that the registrar has imposed a range of requirements (for registration) that do not appear in the Labour Relations Act (LRA),” he pointed out. The registrar had argued that the judge had been wrong when he originally ruled that the SWF had a compliant constitution. But Judge van Niekerk said that while the registrar was correct that the LRA treated unions equally, he was wrong in assuming that it necessarily followed that unions which did not adopt organisational structures which replicated those of unions currently registered could not be registered.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Tania Broughton at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page