The Labour Appeal Court will hear the matter pertaining to the public sector wage dispute on 2 December 2020.
In an unusual move, the LAC (which ordinarily only hears appeals against Labour Court judgments) will hear this matter sitting as a court of first instance.
The matter involves a major public sector wage dispute between the government and its employees, after the government failed to implement a salary increase agreement it signed in 2018. The government, in failing to implement the increase, stated that it simply did not have the money to do so.
The decision not to implement the increase came after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni decided to implement significant budget cuts in relation to the public sector wage bill.
Following the failure to implement the agreed increase, public-sector unions brought an application to the Labour Court to enforce the salary increase agreement.
The government has opposed that application and has instituted a counter-application to have the enforcement of the salary increase agreement declared unconstitutional.
Principles of the common law of contract and constitutional law will therefore be central to the parties’ submissions on 2 December 2020.
The government and public-sector unions agreed that the matter was urgent and that the LAC should hear the matter as the court of first instance in order to speed up the process.
