Landmark Employment Court Decision Rejects Meritless “Secret Strike” Claims

“This landmark decision is a clear example of employer attempts to defeat the intent of the Employment Relations Act,” Council of Trade Unions president Ross Wilson said today.

Ross Wilson was commenting on an Employment Court decision rejecting as lacking “any merit” the arguments on behalf of Otago University that union members’ recent strike action was unlawful because the employer had not been given formal notice.

“Otago University wasted the time of a Full Court of three judges with a case which clearly had no merit in fact or law,” said Ross Wilson.

“It is cases like these which give employers a bad name,” he said.

“I am disappointed that an institution like Otago University is resorting to tactics which hark back to the Employment Contracts Act era”.

Ross Wilson said he hoped that the University would learn from this and move on to developing good faith relationships appropriate to an education environment.

“Successful knowledge organisations cannot be built on a Victorian approach to employment relations,” he said.

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