The labour court is on Tuesday expected to hear two applications by the Motor Industry Staff Association (Misa) to protect employees affected by the retrenchment process at Motus, which the union said was marked by unfair ultimatums and unilateral changes to terms and conditions of employment.
The labour court on Friday granted Misa an order interdicting the Motus group from retrenching 273 members of Misa. That order also suspended consultations on possible alternatives to retrenchments until Tuesday.
The applications seek to interdict Motus from unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of employment and from retrenching Misa members.
The JSE-listed vehicle importer and retailer Motus has already retrenched 86 employees in various departments due to industry pressures, while a further 271 workers were set to be affected by changes to remuneration and benefits, effective January 1.
Automotive giant Motus announced a restructuring process in terms of section 189 of the Labour Relations Act on October 9 after reporting a 1% decline in revenue to R112.60bn in the year to end June. Its operating profit dropped slightly to R5.48bn.
It attributed its reduced revenue to lower contributions from new vehicle sales of R3.33bn (6%), primarily in the group’s international operations.
Sonja Carstens, spokesperson for Misa, the majority trade union in the retail motor industry representing more than 75,000 members, said the applications were aimed at stopping the process and preventing the group from unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of more than 270 Misa members affected by a section 189 restructuring process in terms of the Labour Relations Act.
Misa legal department manager Tiekie Mocke said the “unfair and unreasonable ultimatums of the Motus Group are causing Misa members extreme anxiety and mental anguish”.
Carstens said Misa wanted the court to interdict Motus from retrenching the employees, “to prevent further retaliation, and to ensure that the employer complies with the section 189 processes set out in the Labour Relations Act”.
“Misa also seeks to interdict Motus from consulting directly with Misa members. If this application is heard after the Misa members have been retrenched, the court must order Motus to reinstate the Misa members on the same terms and conditions that they enjoyed prior to January 13,” she said.
The labour court on Tuesday is set to hear Misa’s application for an interim interdict to prohibit Motus from implementing “unilateral changes to the terms and conditions of employment of the affected Misa members, pending the union’s dispute against Motus at the motor industry bargaining council’s dispute resolution centre”.
Cosatu parliamentary co-ordinator Matthew Parks said the federation applauded Misa’s “decisive action of securing a court interdict [on Friday] to halt salary cuts and retrenchments potentially affecting hundreds of staff at Motus, one of the leading automotive retailers in the country”.
“It is critical that Motus halt any further plans to retrench or cut staff salaries while this matter is before the labour court. It needs to abide by the Labour Relations Act and return to the negotiating table with Misa and other unions in this sector, including the National Union of Metalworkers [Numsa] and the National Union of Mineworkers [NUM}, to find progressive alternatives to the challenges facing the company and sector.”
Parks said that with an unemployment rate of 42.4%, “we cannot afford to see a single job lost. With reports indicating that Motus recorded a R2.5bn profit and paid their CEO R35m in 2025, any claims of needing to retrench workers or cut their salaries ring hollow and are nothing short of ludicrous”.
“It is critical that Motus’ shareholders, in particular, the Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which invests workers’ pension and insurance funds, intervene with the company’s errant management and ensure that they do not continue upon this path of throwing workers under the bus,” he said.
The job cuts come months after the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and employers in the motor industry signed a three-year wage deal in August 2025 for increases of 6% in the first year and 5% in the outer years. The inflation rate is hovering around 3.6%.
In November, Numsa secured yet another above-inflation wage agreement — this time with the seven original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) representing the country’s multibillion-rand automotive sector.
The three-year, across-the-board pay deal, expiring on June 30 2028, will see workers at Toyota Motors SA, Nissan, Isuzu, Ford, VW SA, BMW SA and Mercedes-Benz getting increases of 7% in July 2025 (backdated) and 5.5% in the outer years.
Numsa managed to squeeze out a R12,500 one-off strike-free taxable gratuity, while the transport allowance will increase from R3,555.53 to R4,500.
