You are now worse off, CoA tells unions
Staff Writer | Monday June 20, 2016 15:54
Delivering judgement on Friday, Lesetedi lashed out at the two trade unions, saying, with the aid of hardened attitudes, a dispute which could easily have been resolved to the satisfaction of all, even at the hearing stage, was drawn to the ultimate legal determination, leaving both fighting parties bruised.
The CoA judge said with constructive engagement and an eye to the common good of their members, the dispute did not require the parties to litigate to the bitter end, but rather to come together around the table and find a workable compromise and then move on to their more pressing mandate.
“They could then have, as parties to the PSBC, invoked Article 31 to make the necessary changes to the Constitution. Egos seem to have ruled the roost. The ill-will may well lie beyond this dispute,” he philosophised.
Justice Lesetedi further said that despite the Court warning the parties of the ominous perils of allowing the court to arrive at a purely legal assessment of the constitutional provisions, without the parties first having the opportunity to agree to pursue any amendments to the Constitution which they all might desire.
“They were given time to explore a possible settlement, but were unable to agree. They must now for the moment live with their constitution as it stands,” Lesetedi thundered.
“Both sides to the dispute cannot claim to have won in this appeal. They are worse off than when they started despite each having won a point here and there”.
The CoA also reiterated the Industrial Court’s ruling that found that BOFEPUSU as a federation cannot be considered a member of the Public Service Bargaining Council (PSBC), because only trade union (s) are allowed in the PSBC by the constitution.
In his judgement delivered on Friday, Justice Lesetedi also ordered the Secretary General of the PSBC to start the verification process afresh, saying the Secretary General had erred in assessing the combined membership of BOFEPUSU trade unions in the BOFEPUSU Acting Jointly Arrangement (AJA), and directed that the correct approach would be to assess the trade union figures individually and separately.
Justice Lesetedi confirmed the Industrial Court’s order and further ordered that BOFEPUSU AJA’s members, namely BTU, BOSETU and BLLAHWU be verified afresh. He also added that BOFEPUSU cannot be admitted into PSBC as a federation.
However, the CoA over-ruled the Industrial Court’s decision to call for mediation. The CoA also made no order as to costs, leaving each party to bear their own legal costs.