Organisational rights are the rights regulating the relationship between employers, employees and trade unions. In order for a trade union to be granted organisational rights it must first meet the following requirements:
- it must be a registered trade union;
- it must be sufficiently represented in the employer’s workplace;
or - it must be a party to a bargaining council that has jurisdiction over the business of the employer, in which case the union automatically gets the right of access as well as the deduction of trade union subscriptions.
Trade unions who are sufficiently representative of the employees employed by an employer in the workplace, are entitled the following organisational rights:
- a right of access to the employer’s premises (s12); and
- the right to have union subscriptions deducted from members’ salaries by the employer and then paid over to the union (s13).
The Act does not define “sufficiently represented” however, s39 defines a “representative trade union” as one, or two acting jointly, that represents at least 30% of the employees. This threshold has been confirmed in CCMA awards such as P.T.W.U. obo Members v Broubart Security ECP 2410-03.It is however important to note that 30% is merely a guideline and the threshold will be decided on a case by case basis.
Trade unions who represent the majority of employees are afforded the following rights:
- a right to elect trade union representatives at the employer’s workplace (s14);
- trade union office bearers have a right to take paid leave for trade union activities (s15); and
- a right to request the employer to disclose certain information (s16).
Any registered trade union which wishes to exercise any of its organisational rights must notify the employer in writing who must within thirty days endeavour to reach a collective agreement with the trade union with regards to the exercise of these rights. If a collective agreement cannot be reached between the employer and the trade union, the dispute may be referred to the Commission.
