County Fair Foods (Epping), a division of Astral Operations Ltd v Food and Allied Workers’ Union and Others

County Fair Foods informed employees that annual discretionary bonuses would not be paid due to its poor financial position. On 15 December 2010, more than 200 employees embarked on an unprotected strike demanding engagement with management over the bonus decision. The employer issued a series of ultimatums warning employees to return to work or face disciplinary action. Some employees complied, signed a comeback document, and received final written warnings. The remaining 120 employees failed to comply with the final extended ultimatum by 17 December 2010. A lock-out was instituted. These employees returned to work on 20 December 2010, signed the comeback document, but were suspended, subjected to disciplinary hearings, and dismissed on 3 January 2011 for participation in an unprotected strike and failure to heed the final ultimatum.

The appeal was upheld with costs. The order of the Labour Court was set aside and replaced with an order dismissing the claim. The dismissals of the respondent employees were found to be fair.

The case confirms that dismissal may be a fair sanction for participation in an unprotected strike where employees ignore a clear and fair final ultimatum. It reinforces the principle that disciplinary consistency permits differentiation between employees based on materially different conduct, particularly compliance or non-compliance with ultimatums, and clarifies the application of the Code of Good Practice: Dismissal in strike-related misconduct.