Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995)Codes of Good PracticeCollective Bargaining, Industrial Action and PicketingPart B : Collective Bargaining7. Principles of good faith bargaining |
| (1) | Every trade union, employer , employers' organisation and the negotiators appointed to represent them commit themselves to adhere to the principles of good faith bargaining and mutual respect set out below. |
| (2) | Disclosure of information is essential for a trade union to effectively engage in collective bargaining. All relevant information should be disclosed to the trade union on request and subject to confidentiality and clause 12 of the Act. |
| (3) | All demands and responses to those demands from a party should be in writing. |
| (4) | A party may only add a new demand during the course of negotiations if the new demand is introduced for the purpose of finding a settlement and only with the agreement of the other party. |
| (5) | An employer should not unilaterally alter terms and conditions of employment during the course of negotiations prior to deadlock being reached in terms of any collectively agreed dispute procedure, failing which, when a period of 30 (thirty days has lapsed after the referral of the dispute to the CCMA or Bargaining Council,or a certificate of non-resolution has been issued. |
| (6) | Negotiations should be conducted in a rational and courteous manner and disruptive or abusive behaviour must be avoided. |
| (7) | Parties should attend agreed negotiation meetings unless there is a good reason for not attending, in which case the party that cannot attend should give. reasonable notice of its non-attendance to avoid wasteful expenditure and inconvenience to the other party or parties to such negotiations. |
| (8) | A party should engage each other in a constructive manner and not unreasonably conduct itself prior to or during negotiations in a manner that has the effect of unreasonably delaying negotiations by failing to agree dates and times for negotiation meetings, failing to attend agreed meetings, changing negotiators, failing to secure a mandate or refusing to modify demands. |
| (9) | Parties should be prepared to modify demands and responses during the course of negotiations. |
| (10) | Parties should endeavour, as far as possible, to ensure that their negotiators remain the same throughout the course of negotiations and that they are properly mandated to modify their demands and responses. |
| (11) | Mandating processes should be conducted in facilities that are conducive to collective bargaining. Employers should assist this mandating process by providing facilities where possible and time off as per the Act or any collective agreement for trade union officials or worker representatives to meet and if need be ballot members as provided for in the Act. If provided, the trade union should not unreasonably refuse to use the facilities and time off. |
| (12) | Without interfering with a trade union or employers' organisation's right to communicate with its members as they consider best, the negotiators should endeavour to present the demands or responses provided by the other side as accurately as possible. |
| (13) | Without interfering with the right of the trade union to communicate with the members of an employers' organisation and an employer with its employees, the trade union or employer should not undermine the bargaining status of union or organisation as the case may be. |
| (14) | An employer should not bypass a recognised trade union and deal directly with employees before deadlock or a reasonable period after deadlock in respect of the matters that are subject of the negotiations in order to allow the trade union to communicate with employees. |
| (15) | The parties should consider escalating the negotiations to a higher level of management or union office bearer within their respective organisations to avoid a deadlock and the resort to industrial action through seeking to settle the differences or exploring the possibility of voluntarily referring the dispute to binding or advisory arbitration. |
| (16) | The parties should remain open to continue negotiations after a dispute has been declared. |