Pretoria: The South African Police Service (SAPS) welcomes the Labour Court’s judgement, which dismissed with costs an urgent application by the South African Policing Union (SAPU) to interdict the SAPS from taking disciplinary action against 10111 SAPU-affiliated workers who have embarked on an unprotected strike.

The Labour Court in Johannesburg today confirmed what the SAPS has always argued, that following the signing of a collective agreement in the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC) by the SAPS and the majority union Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), on the 13th of September 2017 and the subsequent referral of a dispute by SAPU to the bargaining council, the court cannot be approached as a point of first instance but the union should exhaust the SSSBC process and then approach the court as a point of a last resort for review proceedings.

The Court further confirmed that the SAPS is within its rights following the signing of the agreement, and subsequent ultimatum given to employees to return to work by no later than the 29th of September 2017 or face disciplinary action, to embark on those internal proceedings and that the court cannot be expected to interdict such proceedings and SAPU should rather focus on representing their members instead. The SAPS will therefore proceed with internal disciplinary procedures in accordance with our Disciplinary Regulations and Commanders of all 10111 call centres will be instructed as such.

As a way of ensuring that we continue to ensure that the people of South Africa are and feel safe, the SAPS has since the commencement of the strike set contingency plans in place to avoid the disruption of services at all its 10111 call-centres nationwide.

The South African Police Service hereby makes a call to all employees at all 10111 call centre’s to report for duty to ensure that the Service continues to deliver a quality and efficient service to the people of South Africa.

Source: South African Police Service