Macsteel Service Centres SA (Pty) Ltd v National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) and Others

Macsteel Service Centres SA (Pty) Ltd operates in the metal and engineering industry and falls under the jurisdiction of the Metal and Engineering Industry Bargaining Council (MEIBC). NUMSA represents the majority of Macsteel’s employees. NUMSA sought to initiate plant-level collective bargaining on substantive employment conditions, which Macsteel refused, contending that such issues must be negotiated at industry level in terms of the MEIBC Constitution. NUMSA referred a refusal-to-bargain dispute to the MEIBC. A commissioner upheld a jurisdictional objection, finding the MEIBC lacked jurisdiction because NUMSA had not followed prescribed procedures. NUMSA nevertheless issued a strike notice without an advisory award having been issued in terms of section 64(2) of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). Macsteel approached the Labour Court urgently to declare the strike unprotected and to interdict it.

The strike planned by NUMSA was declared unprotected. The commissioner was directed to issue an advisory award within three days. NUMSA and its members were interdicted from striking pending compliance with section 64(2) of the LRA. The interdict would lapse automatically once an advisory award was issued. No costs order was made.

The case clarifies the mandatory nature of section 64(2) of the LRA in refusal-to-bargain disputes and confirms that a strike cannot be protected without an advisory award. It also affirms the Labour Court’s power to compel commissioners to perform outstanding statutory duties and limits reliance on the functus officio doctrine where those duties remain unfulfilled.