Trade unions should shape working life in a meaningful way through collective agreements ensuring good working relations. In order to be eligible for collective bargaining, they must have a minimum bargaining unit vis-à-vis the workplace, says the German Federal Constitutional Court.
In Germany, the labour courts decide whether associations are eligible for collective bargaining and
The extension of collective agreements to minority union members based on the principle of majoritarianism does not unreasonably limit the constitutional right to strike.
In Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union and others v Chamber of Mines of South Africa and others [2017] 7 BLLR 641 (CC). The Chamber of Mines on behalf of various gold mining companies concluded a collective wage agreement with major trade unions (NUM, Solidarity and UASA) who together represented a majority of workers in the gold mining sector. The Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU) refused to sign the agreement and gave notice that it would strike for higher wages than that agreed to in the collective wage agreement.
This article was written by Lara Kerbelker, an Associate at Norton Rose Fulbright South Africa
On 6 May 2015, the Labour Appeal Court handed down judgment in Putco v TAWUSA, which has significant implications for collective labour law in South Africa. A collective agreement, and therefore lock-out notices, extend to bind unions who are