Industrial Disputes
Industrial Disputes
This domain tests the Industrial Disputes Act 1947 framework: what a dispute is, which authority handles it, and when a strike or lockout is lawful.
Core rules
- Section 2(k) defines an industrial dispute as a difference between employers and employers, employers and workmen, or workmen and workmen connected with employment, non-employment, terms of employment or conditions of labour.
- Section 2A deems an individual workman's dismissal, discharge, retrenchment or termination to be an industrial dispute in specified cases.
- Machinery includes Works Committee, Conciliation Officer, Board of Conciliation, Court of Inquiry, Labour Court, Industrial Tribunal and National Tribunal.
- Conciliation is third-party assistance; arbitration is reference by agreement; adjudication is a binding award by a court or tribunal.
- For public utilities, s.22 bars a strike without notice within six weeks before the strike, and no strike within 14 days of notice or before the date specified.
Worked example
A public utility union gives notice on 1 June for a strike on 10 June. The gap is nine days, so the strike breaches the 14-day condition in s.22 and is illegal. If the notice had set 20 June, the 14-day gap would be met, but the union must also avoid striking during pending conciliation or adjudication. The remedy is to correct the notice and follow the statutory route.
Traps
Not every strike is illegal; legality depends on notice, timing and pendency of proceedings. Conciliation Officer's report is not an award. A dismissal dispute does not automatically become a collective dispute without s.2A. Awards bind the parties, not the whole industry.