Essential services in light of the 2014 Labour Law amendments

The topic of the treatise is “Essential Services in light of the 2014 Labour Law amendments”. It aims to investigate the state of essential services in the wake of the 2014 changes to the Labour Relations Act. As Pillay1 puts it, Furthermore, 15 years under our new essential services regime, it is time for reflection to preserve and improve what works and to fix what does not. The treatment of essential services is not playing as planned. In the meantime, notwithstanding the prohibition of strikes in essential services, they occur with disconcerting frequency, duration and intensity”. From these, one can deduce that prior to the changes effected in 2014, there have been serious challenges facing essential service personnel and employers which necessitated a change in legislation. The question, which this treatise tries to answer, is whether such change in legislation would in all likelihood addresses the challenges, which faced essential service employers and employees before it was enacted