UPUSA v Komming Knitting

In UPUSA v Komming Knitting, an important case in South African labour law, heard by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the Commissioner extended the right to access the workplace, together with the right to deductions of union subscriptions, to a union which, at the time of the award, represented just seven employees out of 31. The Commissioner made this decision on the basis

• that the union was the only union organising and recruiting at the workplace;
• that it had been present in the workplace since shortly after the employer's inception; and
• that its current low level of representation was due to high labour turnover.

The Commissioner held that the union seemed capable of recruiting a majority of the workers at the workplace.