Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995)

Codes of Good Practice

Protest Action to Promote or Defend Socio-Economic Interests of Workers (Section 77 of the Act)

Part G: Facilitating Consideration

30. Obligations of the referring and respondent parties
Purchase cart Previous page Return to chapter overview Next page

 

(1)To achieve the orderly and constructive consideration of matters giving rise to the intended protest action, the referring and respondent parties and their representatives must—
(a)strive to  promote trust,  mutual understanding  and constructive engagement with each other; and
(b)act in good faith.

 

(2)Engagements should be conducted in a rational, courteous and constructive manner. Disruptive or abusive behaviour must be avoided.

 

(3)Parties should attend agreed 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 parties.

 

(4)Parties should not act in a manner that has the effect of unreasonably delaying the process of consideration by, for example, failing to agree upon dates and times for meetings, failing to attend agreed meetings or arriving late without good cause, changing representatives, failing to secure a mandate or refusing to engage for the purposes of reaching agreement.

 

(5)Parties should be open to modifying their standpoints and responses during the course of the engagements.

 

(6)Parties should endeavour, as far as possible, to ensure that their representatives remain the same throughout the course of engagements and that they are properly mandated to modify positions and responses.

 

(7)The parties' representatives should endeavour to present the responses provided by the other party as accurately as possible.

 

(8)The parties should remain open to continue engagements even after the section 77(1)(d) notice has been served.

 

(9)Representatives of the parties should be requested to sign the declaration in Annexure A to this Code.