MEIBC: NEASA Files Review Application.

MEIBC
NEASA FILES REVIEW APPLICATION

Dear Steel Industry employer

As previously communicated, NEASA has launched a legal attack against the actions of the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council (MEIBC), relating to the manner in which the Council conducted itself in reaching its decision to request the Minister of Employment and Labour to extend the MEIBC’s Main Agreement (‘the Agreement’) to non-parties. This matter is currently before the Constitutional Court to consider NEASA’s petition for leave to appeal the judgement of the Labour Court, which, in our view, is rife with errors. 

In the interim, NEASA has filed a review application in the Labour Court to set aside the decision of the Minister to extend the Agreement to non-parties.

1. The Council did not comply with the voting requirements of the Labour Relations Act (‘the Act’) to request the Minister to extend the Agreement, in that the president of the Council was irregularly removed, the vote was not taken “at a meeting of the bargaining council” and an unaffected party was permitted to vote.
2. The request to the Minister was defective in that crucial information that the Minister had to consider was not provided by the Council. 
3. The Agreement contains no proper exemption criteria as required by the Act.
4. The Agreement contains discriminatory provisions which is not permitted by the Act.  
5. The Minister could not reasonably have reached a decision to extend the Agreement with the information available to him.  

NEASA will continue its fight for the rights of employers for a fair and sustainable dispensation in the Metals Sector. This sector is taking severe strain due to a myriad of economic reasons and can ill- afford a labour dispensation which is simply bleeding it dry.

We will keep members abreast of developments in this regard.

Regards

For more information:
NEASA Media Department
media@neasa.co.za