Case law update: Edge Line Engineering (Pty) Ltd v AMCU and others [2026] 4 BLLR 327 (LAC)
Bottom line
The Labour Appeal Court (LAC) accepted that the employer had a genuine commercial rationale for restructuring but still found the dismissals substantively unfair because the employer could not defend the selection of the employees retrenched.
The facts
Edge Line Engineering manufactured electrical substations and kiosks for clients such as municipalities and Eskom. Its work was tender-driven and fluctuated. In March 2019, after recording significant losses, it commenced a section 189A retrenchment process. The proposed restructuring focused on the powder-coating department and ultimately led to the dismissal of 15 AMCU members. AMCU challenged the retrenchments on the basis that the employer had not properly considered alternatives, that some employees could have been absorbed elsewhere, and that the selected employees appeared to have been targeted because they were AMCU members.
