Most industrial strikes are unprocedural—Judge

While the Constitution gives the right to strike or take part in an industrial action to every citizen, generally this right is abused because most of the strikes in the country are unprocedural, a judicial official has observed.

Newly-appointed High Court judge Jack N’riva said on Friday the right to go on strike is supposed to come with responsibilities, which most protesters do not follow.

The judge, who has previously served as deputy chairperson of the Industrial Relations Court (IRC), made the observation in Blantyre during a training workshop on effective management of industrial relations at the workplace organised by Labour Rights Organisation (Laro).

Over the past months, there has been a proliferation of industrial actions.

Predominantly, such actions have been accompanied by violence, threats as well as extensive destruction to individual or institutions’ assets.

N’riva said while every employee has the right to strike as enshrined in the Constitution, generally the strikes do not comply with the provisions of the labour relations.

“There are procedures that have to be followed before a party goes on an industrial action but mostly what we witness is that some people just wake up without following the laid down procedures and go on strike,” noted N’riva.

He said a party needs to have a dispute resolved within the workplace and if that fails then can go to report to the principal secretary (PS) of Ministry of Labour who should also acknowledge receipt.

“Thereafter, reconciliation must be done and if that fails the party then has a choice of either to go to Industrial Relations Court (IRC) for resolution or go on a strike,” explained the judge.

During the workshop, the participants, mainly comprising human resources personnel and other senior managers drawn from various private companies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), also observed lack of knowledge between employers and employees as the main catalyst for unprocedural strikes.

Thus, N’riva said it was important that the knowledge gap is narrowed so that people know what to do and follow procedures as “failure to follow the law has its own ramifications and consequences.”

Laro chairperson Frank Adini said they had observed that the relationships in workplaces are not in tandem with the fair labour practices.

Early this month, Press Corporation (PCL) plc group chief executive officer George Partridge faulted the country’s labour laws which he argued give incentives for industrial action.

In his keynote address at LLM (commercial Law) Research Dissemination and Corporate Engagement Conference in Blantyre, Partridge noted that it is common practice in other developed democratic countries to rest the responsibility of paying striking workers to labour unions.

He said Malawi’s laws require that employers still be paying striking workers despite them not discharging their duties.  n