Trade unions approach CCMA about contract ammendments at Unisa

By Tina George
1 August 2007

Tension is arising among Unisa employees after one-sided changes were made to their service contracts. The trade unions Nutesa, Saptu and Solidarity on Monday jointly referred a dispute about this matter to the CCMA.

This comes after the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union(Nehawu) entered into a collective agreement with Unisa regarding the service contracts of employees.

“We cannot allow one-sided agreements made by a minority trade union to affect our members. The agreement should only be applicable to members of Nehawu,” says Solidarity spokesperson Jaco Kleynhans.

In terms of Section 23 of the Labour Relations Act, a collective agreement with a trade union is only binding if the trade union in question is a majority union. Nehafwu’s Unisa representation is less than 30%.

These three trade unions are demanding that the existing conditions of service are maintained until the CCMA makes a finding.