NURSES WIN ROUND ONE AGAINST GOVT

MBABANE - It is a victory for nurses, and by extension for other civil servants. The Industrial Court yesterday ordered government to submit itself to arbitration for the unresolved dispute regarding cost of living adjustment.

This comes after the Swaziland Nurses Association, (SNA) filed an application where it was seeking an order that the Government Negotiations Team (GNT) should submit itself to the arbitration proceedings.

In his judgment, Industrial Court Judge President Sifiso Nsibande stated that once a dispute between parties was unresolved, the legislature intended that it be referred to arbitration for resolution at the behest of either party.
He said the Industrial Court did not come into play in this situation but the party to the dispute simply referred the matter to arbitration.

compulsory

“It seems to us that arbitration is compulsory in terms of the legislation and the other party has no choice but to follow the legislated dispute resolution,” said Judge Nsibande who was sitting with two members.
The court highlighted that this was the only forum the legislature had endowed with the power to intervene in dispute about essential services.

Judge Nsibande further stated that there seemed to be no statutory basis to provide that such dispute could be heard by the Industrial Court as suggested by government

In their application, the nurses contended that they deserved to be awarded a cost of living adjustment of 7.58 per cent, while government avers that it was unable to do so due to fiscal and cash flow challenges.
The application by the nurses came after the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC) issued a certificate of unresolved dispute. 

jurisdiction

In his founding affidavit, SNA Secretary General Sibusiso Lushaba submitted that the Industrial Court had the jurisdiction to hear and determine this matter by virtue of the provisions of Section 8(1) of the Industrial Relations Act of 2007.
Giving a brief background of the matter, Lushaba stated that sometime in 2017, SNA and three other unions that bargained with government reported a dispute at CMAC.

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