CCT89/10

[2011] ZACC 21

[2011] 9 BLLR 831 (CC)

2011 (9) BCLR 992 (CC)

2011 (6) SA 1 (CC)

(2011) 32 ILJ 1603 (CC)

Nkabinde J

1 March 2011

9 June 2011

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12144/3630

Application for leave to appeal against a decision of the Labour Appeal Court upholding a decision of the Labour Court. LAC judgment is South African Police Service v Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union and Another [2010] 12 BLLR 1263 (LAC); LC judgment is South African Police Service v Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union and Others, Labour Court, Case No J1444/2007, 22 June 2007, unreported.

An application for leave to appeal the decision of the Labour Appeal Court concerning the meaning of “essential service” as defined in section 213 read with sections 65(1)(d)(i) and 71(10) of the Labour Relations Act 66 of 1995 (LRA). The Constitutional Court interpreted the term “essential service” restrictively so as to give effect to the right to strike in section 23(2)(c) of the Constitution. The Court held, on a literal and contextual interpretation of the LRA, as well as the South African Police Service Act (SAPS Act), that non-member employees in the SAPS , employed in terms of the Public Service Act 103 of 1994, did not carry out an “essential service” as defined in the LRA. The non-member employees’ right to strike was therefore not limited. The application for leave to appeal was dismissed, and the decision of the Labour Appeal Court was upheld. Judgment: Nkabinde J (unanimous)