Strike without ballot now illegal
The mandated balloting is now law and must be adhered to, says Department of Employment and Labour.
Workers must now ballot to go on a strike, the registrar of labour relations has announced.
Department of employment and labour acting spokesperson Makhosonke Buthelezi said in February, the registrar of labour relations had alerted trade unions, federations and employer organisations to transitional provisions in the amended labour relations act that mandate that before anybody wishing to strike or lockout employees must ballot to approve the action.
Registrar advocate Lehlohonolo Daniel Molefe said unions and employer organisations had to be given time to amend their constitutions to cater for balloting.
“The labour relations amendment act of 2018 came into effect on 1 January 2019. after negotiations at the national economic development and labour council where representatives of workers and employers including social partners meet to discuss labour market legislation and related issues.”
Molefe said over the past five months, his office had engaged stakeholders on balloting but that some unions and employer organisations honoured an invitation to the information sessions.
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“It is now illegal to strike without a secret ballot.”
Molefe said he was receiving queries daily on balloting and was open to further engagement on the matter.
“The guidelines on balloting for strikes or lockouts were that every trade union or employer organisation must before calling a strike or lockout conduct a ballot of members in respect of whom it intends to call the strike or lockout.”
He said the guidelines also dealt with issues of notice of a ballot, the drafting of and preparing of ballot papers, the voters’ roll, balloting and counting, scrutineers and observers, records of ballots, and transitional provisions.
Molefe said the mandated balloting was now law and had to be adhered to.
He said a sanction for non-compliance could be the deregistration of or putting the guilty party under administration.
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