Labour Relations Act, 1995 (Act No. 66 of 1995)NoticesBargaining Council for the Metal and Engineering IndustriesConsolidated 2021/2025 Plastic Industry Main Collective AgreementChapter 732. Organisational Rights |
| (1) | Trade Unions party to the MEIBC automatically qualify to have membership fees deducted by the employer. |
| (2) | The automatic right referred to in (1) will be granted subject to the following: |
| (a) | Any employee who is a member of a trade union referred to in (1) may authorise the employer in writing to deduct subscriptions or levies payable to that trade union from the employee's wages; |
| (b) | Any employee may revoke an authorisation given in terms of subsection (1) by giving the employer and the representative trade union one month's written notice. |
| (3) | Upon proof of membership trade unions party to the MEIBC automatically qualify to, upon prior notice, access the premises of the employer subject to the following: |
| (a) | Any official of a trade union is entitled to, upon prior notice, enter the employer's premises in order to communicate with members, or otherwise serve their interests; |
| (b) | Hold meetings outside of working hours; |
| (c) | Vote at the employer's premises in any election or ballot contemplated by that trade union's constitution; and |
| (d) | The rights conferred by this sub-section are subject to any conditions as to time and place that are reasonable and necessary to safeguard life or property or to prevent the undue disruption of work. |
| (4) | In any place of work in which at least 10 members of a trade union are employed, those members are entitled to elect from among themselves— |
| (a) | if there are 10 members of the trade union employed in the workplace, one trade union representative; |
| (b) | if there are more than 10 members of the trade union employed in the workplace, two trade union representatives; |
| (c) | if there are more than 50 members of the trade union employed in the workplace, two trade union representatives for the first 50 members, plus a further one trade union representative for every additional 50 members up to a maximum of seven trade union representatives. |
| (5) | Subject to the workload, a trade union representative is entitled to take 5 days off with pay during working hours provided that— |
| (a) | The trade union request the release of the trade union representative not less than seven(7) days in advance of the time off requested; |
| (b) | Failure by the trade union representative to attend the training or perform the functions as requested in (a) will result in the trade union representative forfeiting the entitlement to be paid for the period requested. |
| (6) | Once a trade union representative is elected as an Office Bearer it is incumbent on the trade union to advise the employer accordingly. |
| (7) | In addition to the five 95) days time off referred to in sub-clause (5) and in compliance with (6) an Office Bearer is entitle to an additional 5 days of with pay during working hours provided that— |
| (a) | The trade union request the release of Office Bearer not less that seven (7) days in advance of the time off requested; |
| (b) | Failure by the Office Bearer performing the functions as requested in sub-clause 7(a) will result in the Office Bearer forfeiting the entitlement to be paid for the period requested. |
| (8) | The entitlement to time off contained in this part of the Agreement is limited to the number of trade union representatives as referred to in sub-clause (4). |