THE Congress of South African Trade Union’s (Cosatu’s) newest affiliate, the Liberated Metalworkers of SA (Limusa), is seeking to use a court challenge to gain a foot in the door at Toyota SA Motors.
The challenge by Limusa has the potential to call into question the threshold agreements at vehicle manufacturers.
Limusa said this week it would seek to overturn the National Union of Metalworkers of SA’s (Numsa’s) collective agreement at the Japanese vehicle manufacturer’s Prospecton plant near Durban, as a “matter of principle”.
This week Limusa also withdrew from a Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) arbitration process over membership figures. Numsa described the step as evidence that Limusa’s position on the former’s representation was baseless and that its behaviour was motivated by a lack of support on the shop floor.
Numsa further accused Limusa of being nothing more than a “political front for a faction within the tripartite alliance seeking to neutralise Cosatu and the working class”.
Limusa national organiser Simon Makhanya said on Wednesday a separate dispute on membership would be lodged at the CCMA.
The union intended to file a challenge at the Labour Court in Durban as soon as possible.
Mr Makhanya cited Numsa and Toyota as respondents.
Limusa withdrew from the CCMA process after it became clear that the courts, as opposed to the commission, could nullify the collective agreement at the plant, and that Toyota and Numsa were not part of arbitration. Limusa believes the collective agreement between Numsa and Toyota has no legal standing because of Numsa’s failure to conclude it in line with its own constitution.
Limusa is of the view that the agreement was subsequently improperly ratified at the company’s negotiating council.
“We will be persuading the court to nullify the alleged threshold agreement,” Mr Makhanya said.
Representation of 30% is required for organisational rights at the plant, which produces Hilux bakkies as well as Corolla sedans.
Limusa — which claims to have a national membership of more than 11,000, the majority of which is in KwaZulu-Natal — said it had 625 verified members and 450 unverified ones at the plant, or about 15% representation at Toyota.
Toyota SA spokeswoman Mary Willemse said yesterday the company was not trying to block Limusa; however, the manufacturer declined to elaborate on the matter
“We are not refusing the granting of organisational rights to Limusa. We are simply complying with our understanding of the labour legislation and its various components,” she said.