Senior Managerial Employees: Their Right to Bargain Collectively and their Right not to be Unfairly Dismissed

Abstract

This paper addresses a special class of employees in the South African labour law. Senior managerial employees in South African labour law as well as the international jurisprudence have become a matter of controversy. The focal area of this controversy is concerned with their membership in trade unions and to have their wages and working conditions negotiated by these trade unions. The conflicting interests between the employer and the union are then brought to surface. Drawing from the content of current case law, legislation and international jurisprudence, this paper defines senior managerial employees and discusses some of the concerns and issues of their positions within the collective bargaining unit. In this regard, this paper concludes with a standing view point which was deducted from an analytic analysis based on a case study on the positions of Directors and Deputy-Directors of Prosecutions in South Africa. Senior managerial employees are not only treated differently in collective bargaining, but also in the area of dismissal law. Their rights on this aspect are also looked at. This paper concludes with some final remarks.