Motus agrees to halt retrenchments of MISA members ahead of urgent Labour Court hearing

JSE-listed Motus Group has agreed not to retrench any of the 273 members of the Motor Industry Staff Association (MISA) and to suspend consultations on possible alternatives to retrenchment until 3 February, when two urgent applications brought by the union will be heard in the Labour Court.

The applications seek to interdict Motus from unilaterally changing terms and conditions of employment and from proceeding with retrenchments affecting MISA members.

This comes as Motus said a restructuring process had resulted in the retrenchment of 67 staff, while senior management took salary cuts of up to 30%.

Motus announced last year that a restructuring process had started in July 2025 following a re-evaluation of the SA Vehicle Retail division's operational performance and requirements. The division, which employs 4 000 people across its dealership network, needed to re-align the business in response to the competitive South African automotive retail landscape.

At the time, the restructuring plans had caused much concern among stakeholder bodies, such as the MISA, the Numsa trade union and non-unionised members, as the restructuring plans had identified up to 259 administrative and support related staff that may be impacted.

Advocate Andrew Redding SC, appearing for Motus in the Labour Court in Johannesburg last week, told the court the company had not had sufficient time to prepare a response to MISA’s second urgent application, which was served on the company the previous day.

Judge Reynaud Daniels agreed that the matter should stand down to allow Motus’s legal representative to obtain further instructions.

According to MISA, the court specifically requested confirmation on whether Motus was prepared to provide an undertaking to halt retrenchments and to refrain from engaging MISA members on retrenchment-related issues.

The union said Judge Daniels indicated he could see no prejudice to Motus if such an undertaking were given, and Motus subsequently agreed to the temporary suspension.

Dr Gerrie Ebersöhn, representing MISA, told the court the union believes the company’s conduct justifies the urgent nature of the application.

MISA approached the court seeking an interdict to protect its members against what it described as “draconian, authoritarian, unfair and unlawful” ultimatums allegedly issued by Motus.

In an affidavit, Tiekie Mocke, manager of MISA’s legal department, said the ultimatums had caused severe anxiety and mental distress among affected members.

The union maintaied that its members required protection from the conduct of their employer, Motus Retail, a division of the Motus Group.

Judge Daniels ordered that the latest application be heard together with MISA’s first interdict application, filed earlier this week.

In that matter, MISA is seeking to prevent Motus from unilaterally changing the terms and conditions of employment of the 273 members affected by a Section 189 restructuring process in terms of the Labour Relations Act.

Both applications are set down for hearing on Tuesday.

Separately, MISA’s dispute against Motus at the Motor Industry Bargaining Council (MIBCO) Dispute Resolution Centre is scheduled to be heard on 16 February. That dispute relates to the alleged unilateral change to terms and conditions of employment.

Meanwhile, the Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) has has slammed the planned retrenchments and salary cuts at Motus, saying it falls foul of the Labour Relations Act’s requirements.

Cosatu said Motus reported a 1% growth in profits to a massive R2.5 billion in the last financial year, and thus a simple and humane alternative to such painful retrenchments would be to redeploy stuff across the Motus group where franchises not experiencing losses could absorb the affected staff. 

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