Assignment Task

Introduction

The lack of stability and permanency in the South African employment sector, coupled with the presence of socio-economic disparities and a lack of relational trust between employers and employees, give rise to inherent challenges among bargaining councils, including the broader adversarial bargaining environment in South Africa. [1] In the context of adversarial bargaining environments, various internal and external factors influence the labour relations dynamic between employers and employees. These internal factors mainly consist of influences within macro and micro economic environments where crises such as the Covid-19 global pandemic and its subsequent economic crisis, the national high unemployment rate, and internal factors between the employer and employee arise.

Purpose of the study

This study aims to investigate the future viability of collective agreements in the workplace, particularly with the limited enforceability of collective agreements and their binding nature according to section 23 of the LRA, as demonstrated in the PSA case. In this case, the employees wanted the court to declare resolution 1 and clause 3.3 of the collective agreement valid and binding between the employer and the employee in terms of section 33A of the LRA. The Constitutional Court (CC) ruled against the employees and declared clause 3.3 invalid and unlawful. The employer cited regulations 78 and 79 of the Public Service Act 103 of 1994 as the main reasons to renege on the collective agreement, basing it on unaffordability.

The research study engages in a review of the law on collective bargaining and the PSA case to determine the future of collective bargaining in SA when employers renege on collective agreements. The study presents and identifies gaps in the law that govern collective agreements and provides suitable recommendations on how to overcome the non-enforceability to secure the future of collective bargaining and agreements.

Research questions

This study aims to address the following questions:

• What is the role of bargaining councils in South Africa regarding collective agreements?
• What impact does the reneging and retracting on collective agreements have on the future of collective bargaining in South Africa?
• Does the case of PSA v Minister of Public Service and Administration alter collective bargaining in terms of the Labor Relations Act in South Africa?