(3) A bargaining unit or a recognized constituency may be restricted to the trade
union’s members or it may be for specific categories of employees with
similar economic or business interests, in which employees with similar
agree on an appropriate bargaining unit.
(4) It is only trade union entitled to represent the employees in the bargaining
and where if two unions together represent the majority of the employees in
the bargaining unit and they seek recognition jointly as the exclusive
bargaining agent, the exclusivity shall apply to both trade unions.
(5) Members of senior management who by virtue of their position are
responsible for determining policy on behalf of the employer and who are
authorized to conclude collective agreements on behalf of the employer shall
not be member of a trade union.
(6) Nothing in the Act prevents registered trade unions, on the one hand, and
employers or employer associations, on the other, from establishing their
own collective bargaining arrangements by collective agreement.
(7) An employer may recognize a registered trade union without the union being
a majority. Provided that if the bargaining unit attains majority membership,
all employees including those who are not belonging to the trade union shall
be members of the trade union.
(8) The facts identified to assist unions, employers, mediators, arbitrators and
the courts in determining an appropriate bargaining unit are the following:
- the wishes of the party;
- the bargaining history of the party;
- the size and significant of membership of union organization in certain
categories of employees
- the employees shares similar terms of employment or similar conditions
of work, that points to a single bargaining unit;
- the employer has separate workplaces and the terms and conditions are
left to the discretion of the managers of those workplaces, which points
to separate bargaining units. If however the decisions are made at head
office, that points to a single unit;
- the employer‘s operations effectively divided into separate business
(pointing to separate bargaining units) or is it one streamlined operating
to a single unit); and
- An employer has several separate places of work close together that
points to a single unit. But if the places of work are far away from each
other or in different towns, that points to separate bargaining units.
(9) A material breach includes –
(a) the refusal to negotiate in good faith;
(b) the refusal or failure to comply with an arbitration award or an order
of the Labour Court;
(c) the refusal to comply with a collective agreement.
- – (1) Bargaining in good faith requires the parties to explore issues with an open
mind and with the intention to reach an agreement.
(2) Subject to sub-rule (2), conduct is consistent with bargaining in good faith in
(a) respecting the representatives of the parties
(b) preparing for negotiations in advance; which entails developing
proposals and securing mandates for those proposals;
