According to reports Cosatu has caused the legal challenge to s 32 of the LRA to be delayed until February 2016 instead of November this year.
The (Free Market Foundation) maintains that it is unconstitutional for agreements, governing among other issues wages, to be extended to non-parties of the council, as this allows the imposition of terms and conditions onto parties not directly involved in negotiating, compelling the minority to comply. It maintains that the current bargaining council dispensation favours a “tyranny of the majority”, and prejudices both unemployed workers and small to medium enterprises. This has created severe economic distortions, as well as stifled entrepreneurship and job creation, the foundation has said. Cosatu has staunchly resisted the foundation’s challenge, saying previously it would undermine hard fought collective bargaining rights and create a two-tier labour market in which there was a “race to the bottom” in terms of wages and working conditions.
Read Karl Gernetsky’s article Challenge to clause dealing with collective bargaining suffers new delay first published by Business Day in BDlive on 22 Setpember 2015.