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Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service?

Collective bargaining within public education and limited confidence in the arbitration process has resulted in strike action by educators with adverse consequences on learners. The right to basic education is fundamental and of national importance. Depriving a society the right to basic education i...

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Main Author: Rezandt, Patrick Alexander
Other Authors: Singlee, Suffinah
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Institute of Development and Labour Law 2015
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access_status_str Open Access
author Rezandt, Patrick Alexander
author2 Singlee, Suffinah
author_browse Rezandt, Patrick Alexander
Singlee, Suffinah
author_facet Singlee, Suffinah
Rezandt, Patrick Alexander
author_sort Rezandt, Patrick Alexander
collection Thesis
description Collective bargaining within public education and limited confidence in the arbitration process has resulted in strike action by educators with adverse consequences on learners. The right to basic education is fundamental and of national importance. Depriving a society the right to basic education is tantamount to depriving them of their human dignity; hence their human right. However, the learner's passive right to basic education is seemingly in conflict with the educator's active right to strike action and freedom to associate. In reconciling these conflicting constitutional rights, this mini-dissertation argues that basic education should be designated as minimum service within essential services. Relying on international and domestic legal instruments, case law and academic literature, this dissertation justifies the need to persuade the Essential Services Committee (ESC) to recommend designating basic education as essential service to parliament. This should be based on negotiations and recommendations between the government and educator's trade union to recommend designating basic education as essential service. This, however, will be contingent on the imperative to ensure certainty and credibility in the dispute resolution mechanisms where collective bargaining fails. This dissertation further recommends the need to strengthen the processes of conciliation, mediation and arbitration and also ensure compliance with compulsory arbitration awards, as a formidable measure to balance both the rights of the educator (freedom of association) and the learner to basic education in South Africa.
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publishDate 2015
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/15171 Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service? Rezandt, Patrick Alexander Singlee, Suffinah Labour Law Collective bargaining within public education and limited confidence in the arbitration process has resulted in strike action by educators with adverse consequences on learners. The right to basic education is fundamental and of national importance. Depriving a society the right to basic education is tantamount to depriving them of their human dignity; hence their human right. However, the learner's passive right to basic education is seemingly in conflict with the educator's active right to strike action and freedom to associate. In reconciling these conflicting constitutional rights, this mini-dissertation argues that basic education should be designated as minimum service within essential services. Relying on international and domestic legal instruments, case law and academic literature, this dissertation justifies the need to persuade the Essential Services Committee (ESC) to recommend designating basic education as essential service to parliament. This should be based on negotiations and recommendations between the government and educator's trade union to recommend designating basic education as essential service. This, however, will be contingent on the imperative to ensure certainty and credibility in the dispute resolution mechanisms where collective bargaining fails. This dissertation further recommends the need to strengthen the processes of conciliation, mediation and arbitration and also ensure compliance with compulsory arbitration awards, as a formidable measure to balance both the rights of the educator (freedom of association) and the learner to basic education in South Africa. 2015-11-21T09:36:59Z 2015-11-21T09:36:59Z 2015 Master Thesis Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15171 eng application/pdf Institute of Development and Labour Law Faculty of Law University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Labour Law
Rezandt, Patrick Alexander
Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service?
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service?
title_full Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service?
title_fullStr Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service?
title_full_unstemmed Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service?
title_short Collective bargaining in the education sector in South Africa: Should this sector be classified as an essential service?
title_sort collective bargaining in the education sector in south africa should this sector be classified as an essential service
topic Labour Law
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/15171
work_keys_str_mv AT rezandtpatrickalexander collectivebargainingintheeducationsectorinsouthafricashouldthissectorbeclassifiedasanessentialservice