JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
1. A recognition agreement as defined under Section 2 of the Labour Relations Act (LRA) is a written agreement between a trade union and an employer or group of employers or employers’ organization, regulating the recognition of the trade union as the representative of the interests of unionisable employees employed by the employer or by members of an employers’ organisation. Such recognition is what empowers a trade union to negotiate with an employer the terms and conditions of employment which are reflected in a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). In other words, it is what legitimizes a particular trade union as opposed to any other, as a mouth piece of the unionisable employees who are its members.
2. It is for that reason that the legislator saw it fit to place an obligation on an employer to recognize a trade union under Section 54(1) of the LRA. The provision stipulates:-
“An employer, including an employer in the public sector, shall recognise a trade un…