Questions and Answers
What is the purpose of imposing a general duty to bargain?
To limit industrial unrest
What is a consequence of a failure to bargain prior to the 1995 Labour Relations Act?
Unfair labour practice
What is a right acquired by trade unions through the duty to bargain?
Access to employer premises
What is the primary bargaining approach in South Africa?
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What is the precursor to a registered union acquiring organisational rights?
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What is the term for the requirement that all employees in a bargaining unit must join a union?
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What is the term for the arrangement where employees pay union dues, but are not required to join the union?
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What is the term for the practice of benefiting from union negotiations without paying union dues?
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What is the purpose of union security arrangements?
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What is the term for the level of representation required for a union to acquire organisational rights?
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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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