When the Labour Act, 2024 came into force in April 2024, it retired the Labour Code Order of 1992 after more than thirty years and rewrote the rules by which employers and trade unions settle the terms of work. Collective bargaining was at the centre of that rewrite. It is no longer treated as a matter of custom or convenience; it is a fundamental right, supported by its own institutions, thresholds and remedies, and it now reaches the public sector and the informal economy alongside private enterprise.
For any employer operating in Lesotho’s manufacturing, mining or services sectors, and for the unions organising within them, the practical questions have changed. Which unions must an employer bargain with, and which may it decline? At what point does a union earn the right to compel negotiation? When does an agreement bind not only the parties who signed it, but an entire sector, including businesses that never sat at the table? And what conduct now exposes an employer to an unfair-labour-practice finding?
The Act answers each of these, often with precision. It distinguishes between unions an employer must recognise and those it need not, and it fixes clear thresholds that decide the question. It introduces a new sectoral institution capable of negotiating, enforcing and even extending collective agreements across an industry. And it backs the whole framework with consequences that are no longer theoretical.
That precision cuts both ways. The same provisions that protect a properly organised union can expose an employer who misreads them, and a recognition or collective agreement that does not satisfy the Act’s requirements can unravel at exactly the moment it matters most. The margin between compliance and exposure is narrow, and it is rarely obvious from the face of the statute alone.
We advise both employers and unions on recognition, the negotiation and drafting of collective and recognition agreements, representativity disputes, the establishment of bargaining councils, and industrial action under the new Act. If you are formalising a bargaining relationship, responding to a demand for recognition, or simply unsure where your obligations now begin, the time to take advice is before the dispute, not after it.
To discuss how the Labour Act, 2024 affects your organisation, contact Mayet & Associates Attorneys
MAYET & ASSOCIATES ATTORNEYS. · Maseru · info@zmayetlaw.co.ls · +266 2231 2101 ·