Professor Stefan (B.P.S.) van Eck

Position, academic & professional qualifications

Stefan van Eck holds the degrees BLC, LLB and LLD (Pret). The title of his LLD thesis is “Evaluering van die Nywerheidshofstelsel in die Suid-Afrikaanse Arbeidsreg” (Evaluation of the Industrial Court System in the South African Labour Law). He was Head: Department of Labour Law between 1 October 2007 and 31 December 2016. He was admitted as an attorney of the High Court (Transvaal Provincial Division) in 1997 and holds a C1 ranking from the National Research Foundation. He served as Deputy President of the International Society of Labour and Social Security Law (ISLSSL Africa region) until 2021 and is on the management committee of the African Labour Law Society (ALLS).

 

Academic & professional experience

He joined the Department of Mercantile Law as an academic assistant in 1988. He was appointed as lecturer in 1989 and was promoted to senior lecturer in 1990, to associate professor in 1996 and to professor in 1998. He completed his articles as a candidate attorney at the University of Pretoria Legal Aid Clinic in 1996. He acted as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Law between April and June 1999 and as Head: Department of Mercantile Law, between 2007 and 2016.

 

Teaching activities

Subjects he has taught include: Labour Law; Aspects of Law for Project Management; and Commercial Law. He is also course leader for short courses on Disciplinary Enquiries and Advanced Labour Law. He has presented lectures at the Université Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne, Monash (Melbourne) and at Sydney Law School.

 

Areas of specialisation

His main areas of interest include labour dispute resolution institutions, protection of precarious workers, the rights of members of minority trade unions, interaction between labour law and insolvency law and the influence of the Constitution on the evolution of labour law.

 

Representative publications (2016-2022)

  • “The Lock-out as a Tool for Business Rescue Practitioners: The Airline Pilots' Association of South Africa Judgment” (co-authored with Andre Boraine) Industrial Law Journal 2021 1390-1404
  • “Reflections on Marginalised Workers and the Role of Trade Unions in the Changing World of Work” (co-authored with William Mokofe) Industiral Law Journal 2021 1365-1389 
  • “The Extension of Bargaining Council Agreements: What Guidelines can South Africa Gain from the International Labour Organisation?” (co-authored with Mynie Kriek) Industrial Law Journal 2020 71-87
  •  “The Constitutional Court on the Rights of Minority Trade Unions in a Majoritarian Collective Bargaining System” (co-authored with Kamalesh Newaj) (2020) Constitutional Court Review Vol X 331-352
  • “Interpretation of ‘Fronting’ for Purposes of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act 53 of 2003 Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa v Swifambo (Pty) Ltd 2017 6 SA 223 (GJ)” Van (co-authored with Gideon Gerber) THRHR 2019 156-164
  •  “Amendments to the CCMA Rules: Thoughts on the Good, the Bad and the Curious” (c-authored with Rudi Kuhn Industrial Law Journal 2019 711-731
  • “‘Deemed’ to be an employee: Adopting the Teleological Interpretation of Statutes” (co-authored with Marius Van Staden M) SA Merc LJ  2018 416-433
  • “Large-scale operation requirements dismissals: How effective are the remedies? A discussion of Steenkamp & Others v Edcon Ltd (National Union of Metal Workers of SA Intervening) 2016 37 ILJ 2016 564 (CC)” (co-authored with Tungamirai Kujinga, LLD candidate UP) Industrial Law Journal 2018 76 – 88
  • “Arbeidsmakelaars: Enkelwerkgewer, Twee Kontrakte en talle Onbeantwoorde vrae Assign Services (Pty) Limited v National Union of Metal Workers of South Africa 2018 39 ILJ 1911 (KH) Litnet” 2018 Litnet 1200-1210
  • “The Parties of the Employment Relationship: A Comparative Analysis” (co-authored with Marius van Staden, LLD candidate UP) TSAR 2018 Vol 3 539-568 
  • “Uber drivers: Sad to say, but no employees in SA” (co-authored with Ernest Nemusimbori, LLM candidate UP) THRHR 2018 Vol 3 473- 483
  • “The Right to Strike and Replacement Labour: South African Practice Viewed from an International Law Perspective” (co-authored with Tungamirai Kujinga, LLD candidate UP) PELJ  2018 Vol 21 1-34
  • “The elusive employee and non-standard employment” (Ch 4), and “Common-law and statutory conditions of employment” (Ch 5) Law@work 2019 (co-authors André Van Niekerk, Marilyn Christianson, Marie McGregor and Nicola Smit) LexisNexis
  • “In the Name of ‘Workplace’ and ‘Majoritarianism’: Though Shalt Not Strike” 2017 Industrial Law Journal 2017 Vol 38 July 1496-1510
  • “The role of the labour court in collective bargaining: Altering the protected status of strikes in on grounds of violence National Union of Food Beverage Wine Spirits & Allied Workers Union v Universal Product Network (PTY) LTD (2016) 37 ILJ 476 (LC)” (co-authored with Tungamirai Kujinga, LLD candidate UP) PELJ  2017 Vol 20 1-26
  • “Minority trade unions and the amendments to the LRA: Reflections on thresholds, democracy and ILO Conventions” (co-authored with Geoffrey Esitang, LLD candidate) Industrial Law Journal 2016 763-778
  • “Automatically unfair and operational requirement dismissals: Making sense of the 2014 amendments” 2016 (co-authored with Kamalesh Newaj from University of Pretoria) PELJ 2016 Vol 19 1-30
  • “Employment agencies: Are South Africa’s recent legislative amendments compliant with the International Labour Organisation’s standards?” (co-authored with Candice Aletter LLD candidate) SA Merc LJ  2016 285-310

 

Recent Papers (2017-2020)

 

International

  • “Uber Drivers: Who is (or is not) the Employer – The Mother Company of the Subsidiary?” (ILERA African Regional Congress, Mauritius, May 2018)
  • “Freedom of Association and the Right to Strike: Thoughts on International Fundamental Rights and the Situation in South Africa” (LLRN3 International Labour Law Conference, Toronto Canada, June 2017)

 

National (2017-2020)

  • “The new world of work” (Society of Law Teachers of Southern Africa Conference, Skukuza, January 2020.
  • “The parties to the employment relationship: a comparative analysis” (Co-presenter M van Staden) (Society of Law Teachers of Southern Africa Conference, Cape Town, July 2018).
  • “Automatically Unfair and Operational Requirement Dismissals: Making Sense of the 2014 Amendments” (Co-presenter Ms K Newaj) (Labour Law Conference, UNISA (2017).

 

 

Tel: +27 (0)12 420 2363

E-mail: [email protected]

 

Online profiles:

 

Researchgate:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Stefan_Eck

Google Scholar:

https://scholar.google.co.za/citations?hl=en&user=gIWm6UAAAAAJ

SSRN:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1540518

Academia:

https://up-za.academia.edu/StefanVanEck

LinkedIn:

linkedin.com/in/stefan-van-eck-981259175

Orcid:

http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1563-6736

 

[May 2022]

 

 

 

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