Book Review: Collective Labour Law

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Author: Christoph Garbers
• Pages: 172-174
• Date: 27 May 2019
• Citation: (2008) 19 Stell LR 172
• Published date: 27 May 2019

172 STELL LR 2008 1

Collective Labour Law – by John Grogan. Juta & Co Ltd Cape Town

2007. xxvi & 283 pp. ISBN 9780702174155 Price R395.00

Collective labour law and the primar y relationship it seeks to describe

(between employers a nd trade unions) are not easy to come to grips w ith

– not too many law yers actually deal with it (except pe rhaps the odd strike

interdict), students conceptually have little feeling for it, and ordinary persons

often see it as a moral insult large enough to awaken al l their prejudices. This

state of affai rs, of course, is created and exacerbated by what unions (are

perceived to) do – they dabble in politics and, in those inst ances where they

do focus on their constituency, t hey do not behave thems elves. At one level,

for example, there are those in the union movement who run arou nd trying

to in uence the choice for president (which, judged by t he opposing views,

seems t o be a choice bet ween an alleged crim inal and h is allegedly incom -

petent friend s, or an alleged incompetent a nd his allegedly criminal friends).

Closer to home a nd almost on a daily ba sis, newspapers are full of stories of

strikers behaving badly. What the c ollective labour relationship constantly

needs is a sober voice– to conrm its legitimacy, to explai n its function ing,

to assuage all concerned th at there are rules in place and cr itically to evaluate

those rules.

Albeit at expert level, John Grogan is such a voice. The stated aim of the

book under discussion, (the companion volume to the same author’s Dismissal,

Discrimination a nd Unfair Labour Practices (Juta 2ed 2007)), is to deal with

collective labour law ‘in greater detail than is possible in a text book’. On a

rst read ing, it is clear that this book constitute s a real contribution and that

its value exists at two levels. At the rst level, the book conveys basic informa-

tion and systematises the gr owing body of case law interpreti ng and applying

the Labour Relations Act, 1995. As such, as is the case with Dismissa l,

Discrimination and Unfair Labour Practices, the book’s immed iate value is

in its potential for use as a compr ehensive source on the topic. Secondly, and

as promised in the introduction, many (if not most) problems and i ssues that

arise in pract ice are considered in some detail. In many in stances, the author,

drawing on his experienc e and writings, goes beyond systemat ising and mere

recording by raising questions, analysing prec edent and providing or suggest-

ing answers to particula rly thorny issues. I would think this en hances the

value of the book immensely as it stimulates a dee per reection by those who

(2008) 19 Stell LR 172

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