Organisational Rights for Minority Trade Unions: A Reflection on Ngcobo J’s Judgment in Numsa and Others v Bader Bop (Pty) Ltd and Another (2003) 24 ILJ 305 (CC)

Abstract

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa contains a Bill of Rights which enshrines the rights of all the people in the country. These rights include trade unions and employers or employers’ organisations rights. This chapter deals with organisational rights for minority trade unions with specific reference to the decision of the Constitutional Court in NUMSA and Others v Bader Bop (Pty) Ltd and another and more particularly the judgment delivered by Ngcobo J. It argues that by recognising organisational rights to a minority trade union like NUMSA, outside Part A of Chapter III of the Labour Relations Act which only grants them to majority or representative trade unions, the Bader Bop judgment brought about a ‘revolution’ in the South African labour law jurisprudence. This judgment will remain one of the jewels of the South African jurisprudence and Ngcobo J, who delivered in this case one of his few separate judgments, played an important role during this revolution facilitated by a transformative and substantive interpretative approach that went beyond the Labour Relations Act to consider the Constitution and international law.