Has
to have at least 66% Support of the Workers In case no union garners
the prescribed majority, the Bill provides for the formation of a
collective bargaining council.
Trade
UnionsSoon, managements of companies will have to recognise trade
unions that has the support of at least two-thirds or 66 per cent of
workers, if the proposed Industrial Relations Code is enacted.
Currently, there are no norms for recognising unions.
A
union proving the requisite amount of support will also be considered
as the representative body of workers to engage in dialogue with the
management in case of a dispute. The revised Bill, containing this
provision, has been sent for approval to the law ministry by the labour
ministry.
In
case no union garners the prescribed majority, the Bill provides for
the formation of a collective bargaining council, where different unions
will send their representatives. In such a case, a union gets a seat on
the council for every 10 per cent of votes. Unions that do not get at
least 10 per cent votes would not be included in the council.Currently,
there is no law that makes it mandatory for managements to recognise a
trade union. Although there is a fundamental right to form unions and a
statutory right to get it registered, there is no corresponding legal
obligation on the employer to recognise a trade union, whether
registered or not, even if they truly are representative.“Recognition of
a trade union is very different from registration. There have been
numerous cases before tribunals where the management has refused to
recognise a union as the bargaining body of workers. This provision will
benefit both employers and workers as this will ensure a smooth
dialogue process,” said a senior labour ministry official.According to
another ministry official, trade unions had objected to the original
proposal of allowing a union that has even a per cent of votes higher
than the second largest union as the sole negotiating agent during
tripartite negotiations. For instance, in a situation where one union
gets 41 per cent vote and the other 40 per cent, the second largest
union with 40 per cent would have become irrelevant.“They felt that it
would have rendered a union with 40 per cent support useless and render
smaller unions without bargaining power,” the official said.
