Commercial Workers’ Union of South Africa (CUSA) v Tao Ying Metal Industries and Others

Tao Ying Metal Industries, an employer in the metal and engineering sector, refused to comply with minimum wage provisions of a bargaining council agreement, relying on exemptions previously granted to it under an industrial council agreement concluded under the Labour Relations Act 1956. The workers, represented by CUSA, contended that these exemptions had expired when the new bargaining council agreement under the Labour Relations Act 1995 came into effect and that the exemptions were in any event invalid. The dispute was referred to the CCMA, where the commissioner found that the exemptions had expired and ordered the employer to comply with the bargaining council agreement. The employer unsuccessfully challenged the award in the Labour Court and Labour Appeal Court, but succeeded on appeal in the Supreme Court of Appeal, which held that the CCMA lacked jurisdiction. CUSA then sought leave to appeal to the Constitutional Court.

Leave to appeal was granted; the appeal was upheld. The order of the Supreme Court of Appeal was set aside and replaced with an order dismissing the appeal, with the effect that the CCMA arbitration award in favour of the workers stood.

This case is a leading authority on the role and duties of CCMA commissioners and the proper approach to jurisdictional questions in labour disputes. It affirms a purposive, substance-over-form approach to dispute resolution under the LRA and cautions reviewing courts against excessive technicality that frustrates access to justice and the statutory objectives of labour law.