South Africa’s Major Banking Sector Strike Will Not See Light Of Day-Here Is Why

Banking union Sabso has been blocked from proceeding with a major strike which was planned for Friday, September 27.

On Thursday morning, labor court through Judge Hilary Rabkin-Naicker interdicted the planned strike. The Braamfontein-based court ruled in favor of Business Unity South Africa’s (Busa’s) application declaring the action as unlawful.

In the ruling, the Court stated that Cosatu and Sasbo failed to comply with the stipulations of s77(1) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA).

“Any person who takes part in the intended protest action does not enjoy the protections afforded by s67 of the LRA.”

“Cosatu and Sasbo are hereby interdicted and restrained from preceding with, encouraging or enticing employees to engage in the intended protest action, unless or until such time they have complied with s77 of the LRA.”

The judgment comes after Business Unity South Africa (Busa) filled for an urgent application to stop the strike from happening.

Sabso which is the biggest union in the financial sector earlier announced that the strike was to go on in Gauteng, the Free State, the Eastern Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal and about 45,000 and 50,000 of its members were to take part.

The banking sector workers were to demonstrate over planned job cuts, demand answers on how banks plan to handle the fourth industrial revolution (4IR) and their plans to ensure workers are up-skilled.

Sasbo in a newsletter earlier said it has been attempting to engage with the banking sector on the aforementioned challenges adding that the talks failed to bore fruits, prompting the call for mass action.

“We remain concerned about the high levels of unemployment (29 percent), the state of our economy, the current and future impact of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the direct and indirect societal implications, amongst others, we cannot afford for even one job to be lost,” Sasbo said in a statement earlier.

Following the ruling, Cosatu and Sasbo have stated that they will appeal the ruling before the end today.

“By the 7th of October we will be going out – we are not going to demobilise. We are saying to our workers, we do not expect you to be out there tomorrow on the streets, but let’s continue to mobilise and continue to fight against the scourge of retrenchments.”

Featured Image Courtesy: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach