Abstract
As a principle, majoritarianism refers to a political ideology, which
indicates that a majority of the population is entitled to make decisions that
affect their society owing to them comprising more than 50% of constituencies
or votes. Within a labour law or employment context, majoritarianism is
adopted as a means to prevent the proliferation of trade unions in the
workplace where only the majority unions participate in important employee
participation processes in the workplace. Owing to the majoritarian principle,
minority unions and their members are excluded from contributing to
important employee participation processes such as collective bargaining,
which could impact such unions’ credibility and produce an unconducive
employment relations climate within workplaces. The current study’s objective
was to ascertain whether any prospect exists for flexibility or amendments to
the majoritarianism principle. To attain this objective involved the application
of a qualitative phenomenological research design, where data was collected
through semi-structured interviews. In total, twelve participants formed part of
the study. The present study found that there was room for flexibility when
applying majoritarianism by having wider engagements with all employees,
regardless of union affiliation, when discussing important employment
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matters. This would require the adoption of an inclusive approach to
employment relations, where transparent channels of communication exist,
and contributions are sought and considered from all trade unions and their
members. Conversely, few participants indicated that no prospect exists for
flexibility or amendments to the application of majoritarianism, to avoid the
proliferation of trade unions in the workplace. It is recommended that an
inclusive approach to employment relations be adopted, where collaboration
is encouraged, and minority trade unions contribute to employee participation
processes in a reasonable manner.