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MISA back in court over Motus

Mar 02, 2026 MISA, Motor Industry Staff Association, Motus Group, Dispute Resolution Centre (DRC).

MISA back in court over Motus

MISA is taking Motus Group back to Court on behalf of almost 100 MISA members after they were forced to accept unilateral changes to their terms and conditions of employment or face retrenchment without severance. MISA requests the Court to cancel the ‘acceptance’ letters and order Motus to pay the workers the money they should have received retrospectively.

Simultaneously, the union applied for permission to appeal Judge Zolashe Lallie’s ruling hand down on 6 February dismissing MISA’s urgent application to interdict Motus from retrenching members should they refuse the changes to their remuneration structures. MISA is of the view that the Labour Appeal Court will find that the judge made an error in law.

This dispute started when Motus began a restructuring process in October last year that led to 67 union members being retrenched. Another 645 employees, referred to as the “second group,” faced changes to their cost to company. These changes comprised of the reduction of basic salaries, removal of incentives, withdrawal of company cars, car allowances, cellphone allowances and fuel allowances.

MISA says that Adv Tertius Wessels, on behalf of Motus, confirmed in November that this “second group” would not face retrenchment. Regardless, in January this year, Motus sent “final impact letters” to staff, saying it would go ahead with changes to salaries and benefits.

MISA, on 19 January, referred a ‘unilateral changes to terms and conditions dispute’ to the Motor Industry Bargaining Council’s (MIBCO) Dispute Resolution Centre (DRC). The matter was set to be heard by the Dispute Resolution Centre on 16 February.

On 20 January Motus, struck back with a “revised offer” as alternative to retrenchment. According to this “revised offer” basic salaries would not be cut and employees earning less than R15,000 Cost To Company (CTC) would not be affected. The “revised offer” confirms a change of up to 20% of CTC for those earning more than R15 000 CTC.

MISA disagreed, saying this was not a “revised offer” but rather an attempt by MOTUS Retail to resuscitate a retrenchment process that was finalised in December of last year. Another unilateral decision to conceal the true intent, to unilaterally change members’ terms and conditions of employment. The union warned Motus it would seek a court order should they continue with retrenchment consultations and/or forcing its members to accept the “alternative to retrenchment”.

On 27 January, MISA members were told to attend a meeting the next day to discuss their dealings with the union. MISA objected, saying Motus was not allowed to negotiate retrenchments directly with members. Despite this, Motus pushed ahead and demanded urgent meetings, giving the union only hours to respond.

During the first meeting on 28 January, Gideon Janse van Rensburg, Chief Executive Officer of Motus Retail, told employees that if they did not accept the “revised offer,” they would be retrenched without severance pay. Employees were told to sign Motus’s forms or lose their jobs and income.

MISA says this was an ultimatum, outside of a restructuring/retrenchment process, placing undue duress on members to accept the unilateral changes or to face retrenchment without a severance package. The union advised members, to secure employment, to sign under protest, making it clear they were acting under duress and reserving their rights.

According to MISA, Motus ignored the Section 189 process set out in the LRA guiding restructuring if it would lead to retrenchments, instead they used bullying tactics to force employees into acceptance.

The union is now asking the Court to cancel those acceptance letters and rule that the “revised offer” breached the terms of their employment contracts.

Motus has not yet filed its response to the case.

#PROUDLYMISA #MISALEADS #MISACARES #MISAONTHEMOVE #MISAFAMILY