Read the full judgment on Saflii's website.

This application for leave to appeal concerns a dispute between two rival unions over the right of a minority union to acquire organisational rights from an employer where the majority union has a pre-existing collective agreement with the employer setting a threshold of representativeness for admission to a departmental bargaining council, which the minority union does not meet.

The majority union – the applicant – is the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU).  The minority union, which is a breakaway union from POPCRU, is the South African Correctional Services Workers’ Union (SACOSWU).  It is the first respondent.

The second respondent is the Minister of Correctional Services.  The third respondent is LGP Ledwaba N.O. (arbitrator) in his official capacity as an arbitrator of the General Public Service Sectoral Bargaining Council (GPSSBC) who made the arbitration award, which POPCRU took on review.  The fourth respondent is the GPSSBC.  The second to fourth respondents are not participating in these proceedings.