The rights of workers to belong to trade unions and to participate in their activities is heavily protected by the Constitution and by the Labour Relations Act (LRA). Section 5 of the LRA specifically protects union members, would be union members and union activists from being dismissed or otherwise prejudiced due to their union membership.  

Despite the above some employers do their best to get rid of unionised employees. This is likely because they see such employees as hostile or lazy or destructive. Over the years employers have used a variety of methods of getting rid of unionised employees. These methods include stating that unions are not welcome, favouring non-unionised employees, giving union members unpleasant tasks, exposing them to uncomfortable working conditions and cooking up false disciplinary charges against them.

However, as these ploys are often easy to detect, the relevant unions are usually able to take action against such employer behaviour. In seeking more subtle methods of victimising unionised employees some employers misuse retrenchments to get rid of the undesirable employees. However, unions are wise to this ploy.

In the case of Edge Line Engineering vs AMCU (Saflii 29 December 2025. Labour Appeal Court case No: JA104/2024) the employer genuinely needed to close one of its departments and to retrench employees. In court the employer claimed that it used LIFO as the fair and objective criterion in deciding who to retrench. However, the employer failed to provide proof that the 15 AMCU union members who they retrenched had the shortest service of the employees in the department. Non-union members from the redundant department were not retrenched and were transferred to other posts in the company.

The union therefore succeeded in persuading the court that their 15 members had been targeted for retrenchment because of their union membership. The Court therefore ordered the employer to pay each of the 15 employees 12 months’ remuneration in compensation plus interest.

To avoid such costly errors employers need to train their managers in how to manage effectively in a unionised environment instead of trying to get rid of union members.

The innovative video series WALKING THE LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE provides very inexpensive training that allows the managers of every employer to obtain essential labour law knowhow, and to do so at times suitable to their very busy schedules. Its 48 chapters, averaging 10 minutes in length each, can easily be watched at junctures when the manager has time.

The employer has the option of using this groundbreaking video series to train its managers and HR practitioners in groups and then follow-up by getting them to view the video chapters again at convenient junctures in order to ensure that they retain the learning gained. Alternatively, employers with self-learning systems can simply give their managers and HR practitioners access to the entire series for viewing at times that suit their busy work schedules.

This greatly informative yet very engaging and practical video series provides crucial and user-friendly learning through the use of a stimulating, animated case study that runs throughout the 48-chapter series. Each chapter contains clear and important advice needed by workplace management on the basics of labour law over a very wide range of topics.

A further advantage is that the manager can, for a full year, easily go back to any of the 48 videos for purposes of refresher training or in order to access information on how to deal with a current workplace issue. This solves the problem of managers forgetting what they have learned and sustainably builds the managers’ capacity to manage the workplace effectively and in line with the law.

That is, this video series helps management to walk the shaky labour law tightrope and to run the workplace productively without falling into the labour law abyss. 

To access our 48-part video series, WALKING THE NEW LABOUR LAW TIGHTROPE. Just go to www.labourlawvideos.co.za or contact Ivan on ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za

Written by Ivan Israelstam, Chief Executive of Labour Law Management Consulting. He may be contacted on (011) 888-7944 or 0828522973 or on e-mail address: ivan@labourlawadvice.co.za. Go to: www.labourlawvideos.co.za