The High Court has refused to order Air Terminal Services (ATS) to withdraw termination notices issued to 200 of its employees in June.
However, High Court judge Justice Javed Mansoor declined to say whether the terminations were lawful, saying the workers had “appropriate mechanisms in the law” to challenge them.
The workers’ union, the Federated Airlines Staff Association, had sued ATS in a court action filed soon after the terminations were issued.
The union’s court case sought a ruling on different points of law as ATS advertised for new employees on June 27 — eight days after issuing notices of termination to the affected association members.
Justice Mansoor ruled that terminating the employment of union members would not terminate a collective agreement between the employer and the members’ union.
He also ruled that workers could not be terminated because of their union membership.
Justice Mansoor said some facts in the case were still in dispute, meaning that he could not rule on them until the evidence was heard.
“The question whether a collective agreement is frustrated is a matter to be ascertained by the court in the context of the relevant factual background, and not in a general sense,” he said.
Justice Mansoor said the court could not grant the orders sought by the union to restrain ATS from terminating their employment or acting on its advertisements for new staff in June.
However, he said he was not ruling on the lawfulness of the June terminations.
“This decision makes no finding as to whether or not the terminations of the employees were lawfully carried out,” he said. “There are appropriate mechanisms in the law for that inquiry alongside remedies.”
The judge also ruled that there was “no evidence of an imminent threat” of ATS taking steps to terminate the collective agreement with the association, and therefore, no reason for him to grant an injunction to stop ATS from doing so.
