MONDAY, 1.00PM
THE Labour Court has acted decisively against labour consultants hoping to represent employees before the court of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration by masquerading as unionists or officials of employer organisations.
The Labour Relations Act prevents labour consultants from appearing in the Labout Court or CCMA, specifying that parties can only be represented by legal practitioners, co-employees or members and officials of bona fide trade unions or employer organisations. Some labour consultants have been setting up bogus unions and employer bodies to get a foot in the door to represent parties to disputes in the CCMA or Labour Court.
In a recent pretrial conference, Labour Court Judge Adolph Landman questioned whether Gary van Wyk and Allan Taylor were union members and whether their representative Kobus Marais was a bona fide union member. Both claimed to be members of the Motor Trasnport Workers’ Union and that they could be represented by Marais. The judge, however, found that Marais also worked as a consultant for a labour consultancy group. Landman held that Van Wyk and Taylor were not bona fide union members and that their admission to the union was an ultra vires action by union office bearers. Landman held Marais had not shown he was acting as an organiser or fellow member of the union and the case was struck off the roll.
BUSINESS BRIEFS
BOLAND HELPS VULA RAISE LOAN BOLAND Financial Services and US investment bank Fieldstone Private Capital Group are to assist black empowerment telecoms group Vula Communications to structure its funding proposal for its $350-million share in a global satellite phone network licenced last week by US-based Mobile Communications Holdigns.
SA-ALGERIA TADE ACCORD DEPUTY President Thabo Mbeki has agreed with Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia on steps to be taken to boost trade and co-operation between the two countries, according to the official Algerian news agency. The two leaders agreed to set up a joint co-operation committee.
EC TO PROBE JCI-LONRHO DEAL THE European Commission will study the deal in which Anglo American sold its stake in multinational Lonrho to Johannesburg Consolidated Investments, but stressed that its interest is routine. The EC last year told Anglo to decrease its Lonrho holding from around 28% to below 10%. Last week, JCI announced it is to buy the 26,8% combined Lonrho holdings of Anglo and De Beers, days after formal merger talks with the Lonrho board fell through.