Industrial Relations: Bargaining and Trade Unions

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Questions and Answers

What is the purpose of imposing a general duty to bargain?

  • To reduce union power
  • To limit industrial unrest (correct)
  • To restrict collective bargaining
  • To increase employer flexibility

What is a consequence of a failure to bargain prior to the 1995 Labour Relations Act?

  • Improved industrial relations
  • Unfair labour practice (correct)
  • Loss of union recognition
  • Reduced employer liability

What is a right acquired by trade unions through the duty to bargain?

  • Right to collective bargaining
  • Right to strike
  • Access to employer premises (correct)
  • Right to employ non-union workers

What is the primary bargaining approach in South Africa?

<p>Centralised collective bargaining (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the precursor to a registered union acquiring organisational rights?

<p>Sufficient representation (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the requirement that all employees in a bargaining unit must join a union?

<p>Closed-shop agreement (D)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the arrangement where employees pay union dues, but are not required to join the union?

<p>Agency-shop agreement (A)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the practice of benefiting from union negotiations without paying union dues?

<p>Free-riding (C)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the purpose of union security arrangements?

<p>To prevent free-riding (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

What is the term for the level of representation required for a union to acquire organisational rights?

<p>Sufficient representation (B)</p> Signup and view all the answers

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Study Notes

Integrative Bargaining

  • Emphasizes win-win outcomes that produce joint gains
  • Relies heavily on principles of resolution

Trade Unions

  • Came into being through the realisation that collective power is needed to match employers' power
  • Examples of trade unions include registered trade unions and employers' organisations

Collective Agreements

  • Legally binding agreements concluded between employers (or employers' organisations) and organised labour
  • Concern terms and conditions of employment or any other matter of mutual interest
  • Definition according to s 213

Union Security Arrangements

  • Address the problem of 'free-riding' in trade unions
  • Examples include:
    • Ballot of all employees to be covered by the agreement with a two-thirds majority vote
    • Post-entry closed shop, where employees become members of a trade union after taking up employment
    • Exclusive use of deductions to further socio-economic interests of employees

Bargaining Councils

  • Voluntary bodies established in terms of s 27 of the Labour Relations Act
  • Consist of one or more registered unions in collaboration with one or more registered employers' organisations
  • Collective agreements concluded in a bargaining council bind the parties and their members
  • The state as an employer can also be a party to a bargaining council

Background to South African Collective Bargaining

  • Centralised collective bargaining at industry level has been the principal approach since 1924
  • Industrial councils were established under the Industrial Conciliation Act of 1924
  • Table 9.1 shows the number of bargaining councils and their coverage from 1983-2014

Bargaining Levels and Structure

  • Different levels of bargaining, including industry level, company level, and workplace level
  • Advantages and disadvantages of each level, as shown in Table 9.4

The Duty to Bargain

  • Failure to bargain constitutes an unfair labour practice
  • Good faith bargaining is important in limiting industrial unrest
  • Trade unions rely on the duty to bargain to obtain recognition and organisational rights

Representativity

  • A precursor to a registered union acquiring rights
  • Three levels of representation, including sufficient representation (though the Act is unclear on what this means)

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