The Promotion of Orderly Collective Bargaining and Effective Dispute Resolution, the Dynamic Labour Market and The Powers of the Labour Court (2)

The failure to heed orders prohibiting strike violence and the perpetuation thereof in the context of a protected strike skews collective bargaining power and takes on a form of economic duress. The pressure placed on the employer as a result of the violence and not as a result of the strike, forces the employer to reach agreement. This means that the employer is placed under economic duress to conclude a wage agreement that does not reflect the forces of supply and demand, but the force of violence. The effect of this is definitely not to advance economic development in accordance with the purpose of the LRA. Strikes that are marred by this type of violence and unruly conduct are extremely detrimental to the legal foundations upon which South African labour relations are founded.The aim of a strike is to persuade the employer to agree to workers' demands through the peaceful withholding of their labour