By Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawvideos.co.za
Some months ago, I warned employers that illegal strikes do not automatically justify dismissals. The case in point in my earlier article was that of AMCU vs Eastern Chrome Mines. (Lex Info 23 April 2025. Labour Court Case number JS 857/20). In this case 39 mine employees were fired for downing tools without having followed the procedures prescribed by the LRA.
In that case the court found that the employees had indeed breached strike law but still found that their dismissals had been unfair because the employees’ reason for downing tools was their fear of contracting covid. As the Court found this to be reasonable it ordered the employer reinstate all 39 employees and to pay each of them 57 months’ backpay.
This was a strong example of a situation where an illegal strike was condoned by a Court. Despite this finding employers still fail to appreciate the extent to which our labour legislation protects employees even where they have breached the law.
In the case of NUM vs Baseline Civil Contractors (Lex Info 5 September 2025. Labour Court case number C 376/2023) the employer delayed the payment of annual bonuses by one week as a means of discouraging the employees from returning to work late after the year end break. The employees reacted by embarking on an illegal strike, and, despite having been given several progressively stronger ultimatums, refused to return to work. The employer fired them for embarking on an illegal strike which had cost the company R6.5 million.
The Labour Court acknowledged that the strike had been illegal and that the employer’s delay in paying the bonuses had been legal. Despite this the Court found the dismissals to have been unfair. This was because the strike had been in response to an unreasonable provocation by the employer. The Court ordered the employer to reinstate all the workers with partial backpay.
This outcome is one example of many where employees have contravened the law but have still won their court case. It is a stark reminder that the law and legal system employed to uphold it strongly favour the interests of employees. Although I have been warning employers about this fact for many years it appears that my warnings are being ignored in some cases. In the Baseline case the employer ought to have consulted with the union on its problem of employees returning late from leave and should have sought a solution that would not provoke a highly expensive wildcat strike. Those members of management who are responsible for workplace decisions need to be trained in the requirements of workplace law.
The innovative video series WALKING THE LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE assists employers to provide their managers with very inexpensive training that allows the managers to achieve necessary knowhow at times suitable to their very busy schedules. Its 48 chapters, averaging 10 minutes in length each, can easily be watched at junctures when the manager has time. This greatly informative yet very engaging and practical video series provides crucial and user-friendly learning through the use of a stimulating, animated case study that runs throughout the 48-chapter series. Each chapter contains clear and important advice needed by workplace management on the basics of labour law over a very wide range of topics.
A further advantage is that the manager can, for a full year, easily go back to any of the 48 videos for purposes of refresher training or in order to access information on how to deal with a current workplace issue. This solves the problem of managers forgetting what they have learned.
This video series helps management to walk the shaky labour law tightrope and to run the workplace productively without falling into the labour law abyss.
To access our groundbreaking video series: WALKING THE NEW LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE please go to www.labourlawvideos.co.za or contact Ivan on ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za
