Abstract

The Constitution guarantees workers the right to strike. Workers use strike action as a bargaining tool when employers fail to meet their demands or address their grievances in the workplace. The right to strike and the strike itself have helped workers to achieve various things in the workplace, including improved working conditions and increased wages. Exercising the right to strike has resulted in not only positive acts that benefit workers, but also in the loss of employment through retrenchments due to protracted strikes; in addition, many workers have lost their lives due to strikes becoming violent. The struggle to liberate workers from the shackles of poverty, inequality, the ever-increasing rate of unemployment and differences in pay continues. This means that the weaponry of strike action is still necessary if South Africa wants to address the plight of workers. This article examines whether the law relating to strikes in the next 30 years will still be relevant in the labour relations environment in South Africa. I argue that strikes are becoming less popular, and very few workers or employees will continue to use them due to changes in the way that business is conducted. This is further affected by the increasing use of technology, including the introduction of gig work and apps to perform work. In addition, trade unions usually convene strikes and recruit people who are in formal employment; however, by 2055, the number of people joining unions will have decreased as few people will be in formal employment. Workers will mostly rely on the internet to voice their grievances against employers, and the latter, fearing reputational damage, may succumb to employee demands. This will have the same outcome as if workers were to go on strike. The result will be a situation where an individual worker and their employer will decide on their terms and conditions of work. The employer alone will decide on wage increases or other matters affecting workers, because collective bargaining will play a less important role.