NEHAWU Vindicated By Labour Court Judgement Over ACSA's Abuse Of Power In Disciplinary Processes
Wednesday June 29, 2022
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] welcomes the Labour Court Judgement on the matter between the union and Airport Company South Africa [ACSA].
In 2019, ACSA decided to charge our member, Comrade Makhabo Madiba, who was employed in the Baggage and Trolley Operation Unit and hauled him into a disciplinary hearing, where it appointed its own advocates and attorneys to chair and initiate their own disciplinary hearing.
The hearing was a protracted process plagued by various adjournments between the years 2019 to 2022. After Comrade Madiba fell sick, ACSA elected to proceed with the hearing in his absence thereby denying him the right to be heard and consequently justice.
As NEHAWU, we referred the matter to the CCMA which was setdown for arbitration on 7 June 2022. ACSA brought an application to use lawyers in the CCMA. This was a desperate attempt to avoid its own internal staff from dealing with what is in actual fact a plain, simple labour dispute. The commissioner declined ACSA’s application to appoint lawyers and the commissioner directed that the matter should then proceed to arbitration.
In a frantic attempt ACSA approached the Labour Court to interdict the disciplinary hearing pending the jurisdictional review application to overturn the commissioner’s ruling.
As NEHAWU, we vehemently opposed both matters and the urgent Application was heard in the Labour Court on 07 June 2022. The judgment was delivered on 27 June 2022, where the court dismissed ACSA’s urgent application and directed that the CCMA ought to set the arbitration down.
The court had scathing sentiments towards ACSA, where it found peculiar that such an entity would not have anyone in its HR unit capable of presenting its case before the CCMA over ordinary issues that ACSA deals with on a daily basis.
Lastly, the union is vindicated over its contention that ACSA abuses resources and power against its own workers during dispute resolution processes. The union shall now proceed to arbitration with the playing fields levelled by the courts and defend our member by all means possible.
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Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat Office
Zola Saphetha (General Secretary) at 082 558 5968;
December Mavuso (Deputy General Secretary) at 082 558 5969;
Lwazi Nkolonzi (NEHAWU National Spokesperson) at 081 558 2335 or email: lwazin@nehawu.org.za
Visit https://www.nehawu.org.za