Employers are advised to make contingency plans in the light of planned COSATU protest action on 7 March 2012.

Faan Coetzee, a Director in the Employment Practice at Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr business law firm says, “A number of employees are expected to heed the call from COSATU to join in nationwide protest action. Significant disruption may be caused when workers opt to join the protest rather than go to work. The protest action is in support of a ban on labour brokering and the scrapping of the e-Toll system in Gauteng. Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced in his Budget Speech yesterday that tolling on the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project will begin on April 30.

Coetzee explains that for the protest action to be protected, NEDLAC must first consider the subject matter thereof. According to the NEDLAC website the matter was declared “considered” in a meeting held on 30 January 2012. The media reported that NEDLAC had confirmed that there was a deadlock between the various parties on the matter.

“The Labour Relations Act defines protest action as the partial or complete refusal to work, or the retardation or obstruction of work, for the purpose of promoting or defending the socio-economic interests of workers.

“A strike, on the other hand, has the purpose of remedying a grievance or resolving a dispute in respect of a “matter of mutual interest”.

“It is not collective bargaining that is at stake when employees embark on protest action as protest action involves not only the rights of employees and employers, but also the interest of the public at large and, in certain instances, the effect on the national economy,” he says.

Coetzee notes that a call for the outright banning of labour brokering in South Africa is an issue of State policy and general socio-economic concern and not a demand to any specific employer or employer parties, which makes it protest action.

“Any employee may legally participate in protected protest action once the formalities have been complied with at NEDLAC.

“Participating employees may not be disciplined and the principle of no-work, no-pay will apply,” Coetzee adds.
 

For more information:
Faan Coetzee, Director, Employment Practice, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr,
Tel: +27 (0)11 562 1600 or email: faan.coetzee@dlacdh.com

Andrea Collocott, Head: Marketing, Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr,
Tel: +27 (0)11 562 1281 or email: andrea.collocott@dlacdh.com

Angela Graham, Tel: 073 505 9012 yeahwrite@worldonline.co.za

Notes:
Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is one of the largest commercial law firms in South Africa with some 115 directors/partners and 250 qualified lawyers located at offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr lawyers specialise in services covering the complete spectrum of business legal needs in 11 core areas of practice. The firm also has dedicated sector-led teams consisting of lawyers with experience in a wide range of industries and the public sector.

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr is the South African member firm of DLA Piper Group, an alliance of legal practices, which includes firms with offices around the globe that are affiliated to members of the DLA Piper Practice but are not themselves members of it.

Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr's Africa practice, in conjunction with DLA Piper Africa Group, is unrivalled in terms of pan-African legal services and geographical coverage.

DLA Piper is an international legal practice with over 3,500 lawyers located in 30 countries and 69 offices throughout Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the US.

For further information, please visit www.cliffedekkerhofmeyr.com