Murray and Roberts (Pty) Ltd v Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration and Others

Murray and Roberts (Pty) Ltd (M&R), a contractor at the Kusile Power Station, was party to two collective agreements (the Project Labour Agreement and the Partnership Agreement) concluded with certain majority trade unions, but not with the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union (AMCU). AMCU, a minority union and not a signatory to the agreements nor a member of the relevant bargaining councils, sought organisational rights under sections 12–15 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA). After M&R declined to engage, AMCU referred an organisational rights dispute to the CCMA in 2014. At conciliation, the parties concluded a settlement agreement in which AMCU withdrew its dispute and undertook to seek membership of the MEIBC to obtain organisational rights. In 2015 AMCU again sought organisational rights and referred a second dispute. The CCMA ruled that it lacked jurisdiction, holding the matter to be res judicata based on the earlier settlement. AMCU successfully reviewed both the settlement agreement and the jurisdictional ruling in the Labour Court, which set them aside. M&R appealed to the Labour Appeal Court.

The appeal by Murray and Roberts was dismissed. The Labour Court’s order setting aside the settlement agreement and the CCMA’s jurisdictional ruling was confirmed.

This case reinforces Constitutional Court authority that section 18 threshold agreements cannot preclude minority trade unions from accessing organisational rights. It confirms that settlement agreements concluded under a common mistake of law may be set aside in labour disputes, and clarifies that majority unions to threshold agreements do not necessarily have a direct and substantial interest requiring joinder when minority unions challenge settlements or jurisdictional rulings.