In this regard, management should bear in mind the succinct words in the award handed down in East Asiatic Company (M) Bhd v. Valen Noel Yap 1987 MarsdenLR 356 ; [1987] 1 ILR 363 as follows:-

For it is the right and privilege of every employer to reorganise his business in any manner he thinks fit for the purpose of economy or even convenience; and if by implementing a reorganising scheme for genuine reasons for better management and economy the service of some employees become excess of requirements, the employer is entitled to discharge such excess But this right of the employer is limited by the rule that he must act bona fide and not capriciously or with motives of victimisation or unfair labour practice. Nor does this right for instance entitle an employer under the cover of reorganisation, to rid himself of employees who have offended him in some way or to promote the interests of some favoured employees to the detriment of others

Once that first question is answered, the second is posed to wit whether the consequential retrenchment was made in compliance or in conformity with accepted standards and principles of good industrial relations practice. In respect of the second ques

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