Labour: JP says under-pressure courts being misused

Basheer Waglay, Judge President of the Labour Appeal Court, and the Labour Court of SA, says about 35% of matters referred to it should not be there and only served to hamper the efficiency of the courts. Johannesburg had the most shortages of judges and courts, Waglay said, according to a BusinessLIVE report. ‘We need double the number of judges and courts that we have (in Johannesburg) today … there are thousands of matters (to attend to).’ He was speaking during the annual labour conference of the CCMA in Boksburg. The cash-strapped CCMA, which processes more than 200 000 cases a year involving unfair dismissals, wage disputes and retrenchments, has been hurt by crippling budget cuts from the Treasury, which are set to reach about R500m in the medium term. Waglay said delays in the Labour Court were cause for concern and the CCMA needed to be capacitated as it played a crucial role. ‘Perhaps the time has come to reconsider the Labour Relations Act (LRA),’ he said during his address titled ‘Has the Labour Court delivered on its mandate over the last 25 years?’

Too many workplace disputes devoid of merit are being referred to the Labour Court, Wag lay said, according to a TimesLIVE report. ‘Too often the court is used to leverage a settlement. (It) is increasingly becoming an issue. ‘These factors have a serious impact on the efficiency of the Labour Court ...,’ he said. Waglay was critical of labour relations at companies. ‘Workplace disciplinary processes appear to be increasingly dysfunctional, with the referral of the court as a first resort instead of a last resort,’ he said. ‘Naming, shaming and blaming all too often characterize the labour relations discourse. Too many workplaces remain dispute-driven rather than relationship-driven. There is a reluctance to experiment with creative alternatives to the burden style of positional collective bargaining. ‘The Labour Court has repeatedly commented on the futility of workplace procedures that seek to emulate criminal trials. ‘(Cases are brought to court) at a massive cost for little return. ‘Lawyers are not shy to bring matters to court which they know have no chance of being successful in court.’