Legal Aid faced protected strike action after the Salawu filed a notice of action with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.
Nearly seven years after Legal Aid South Africa employees first formally raised concerns over salaries, workloads, career progression, staffing, labour relations and governance, many of those issues continue to feature in the latest dispute.
When employees submitted a memorandum in 2019, they raised concerns ranging from salaries, workloads, staffing levels and career progression to labour relations, governance, acting appointments and workplace practices.
The memorandum also acknowledged Legal Aid SA’s budget constraints while arguing that resources should be redirected from what employees described as unnecessary expenditure.
The South African Legal Workers Union (SALAWU) maintains that retirement became the catalyst rather than the cause of the current dispute.
