Abstract

Section 23 of the Labour Relations Act requires collective agreements drawn up by employer and employee parties to provide for procedures for the resolution of disputes between parties arising from the application or interpretation of such agreements. Parties should attempt to resolve a dispute through conciliation and, if the dispute remains unresolved, through arbitration. If there is no prescribed procedure or it is not operative or has been frustrated, ‘any party’ to the dispute may refer the dispute in writing to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). Contestation has arisen between conflicting judgments on the issue of the locus standi of the party who may refer a dispute over the interpretation or application of a collective agreement to the relevant bargaining council or the CCMA. The note supports the recent judicial interpretations that the term ‘any party’ in s 24 of the LRA, denoting who may refer such a dispute, includes non-parties even though they may not have been party to the conclusion of the agreement.