NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO:340 (CW 435E )
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
Mr D B Feldman (COPE-Gauteng) to ask the Minister of Labour:
Whether the Government has implemented any measures to ensure that
violent strikes such as the Transnet strike where railway trucks were
set alight would legally be made to lose their protected status; if
not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
CW435E
MINISTER OF LABOUR REPLIED:
The right to protest or demonstrate is a right that is enshrined and
guaranteed by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa. The
Labour Relations Act gives effect to the spirit and the letter of the
Constitution by regulating the right to strike in the South African
Labour Market. Although employees have the right to strike , it must
comply with the requirements of the Labour Relations Act. The Labour
Relations Act does not protect criminal activities perpetrated under
the disguise of industrial action.
Furthermore, the Bill of Rights states that although everyone has a
right to assemble; demonstrate; and picket, it must be peaceful and
unarmed. Everyone has the right to life and to be free from all forms
of violence from either public or private sources. The Labour Court
can interdict a strike or lockout that does not comply with the
requirements of a protected strike or lockout. Therefore, there is
nothing in our law that forbids any party to apply for an interdict if
it feels that the strike does not comply with the provisions of the
law. In instances where a strike takes the form of malicious damage to
property, assault on non-striking employees and public violence, the
Police have a constitutional duty to uphold the law and to protect
property and lives. We all agree that acts of violence and
intimidation during strike actions are not acceptable.
However, any limitation to a right to strike will be against the
spirit of the Constitution of the Republic and our labour laws. The
intention of amending section 150 of the Labour Relations Act is
precisely to allow the CCMA to intervene in these kinds of disputes to
attempt to find a resolution speedily so as to minimise any damage
that industrial actions may cause.