During the last couple of CCMA/SALLR seminars, we have specifically dealt with case law developments covering the participation in unprotected strike action and the new protocols contained in the Code requiring all role players dealing with unprotected strike action to, amongst others, appreciate and apply the following:
- The requirements of substantive fairness of dismissals flowing from such participation
- Factors relevant to assessing the seriousness of non-compliance with the LRA to render a strike protected – these
focus on the conduct of all the parties concerned, before, during and after the strike - The ‘tick box’ approach to the suggested processes that should be followed before dismissing an employee for
participation in an unprotected strike
Apart from participation in an unprotected strike constituting misconduct, it is quite apparent that, during strike action, whether protected or unprotected, employees may further commit misconduct on an individual or collective basis.
During the workshop, we will explore avenues of dealing with such individual misconduct and, furthermore, also deal with formulating appropriate responses to collective misconduct, based on, amongst others, the following:
- Team misconduct
- Common purpose
- Derivative misconduct
Specific attention will also be paid to the factors relevant to determine whether a strike notice is deficient and therefore rendering the strike unprotected.
Employer-employee-specific workplace material to be provided to the SALLR facilitator before the workshop and to be considered during the workshop
Sample employment contracts covering various categories of employees, such as permanent fulltime employees and scheduled employees, appropriate policies, practices and procedures, forms currently used and appropriate collective agreements.
Approach to be adopted during the workshop
The workshop will commence with an analysis of the current approach adopted at your workplace, followed by an audit to determine the level of your non-compliance with the new requirements. Thereafter, a joint action plan will be developed to give effect to the issues identified in the audit – lastly, and most importantly, at the end of the workshop you must be in a position to initiate what is required of you to implement the action plan to ensure the required compliance levels.
