Understanding Strike Notices: Do Workers Really Need to Wait 6 Weeks Before Striking?

CHAPTER V - STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS

22. Prohibition of strikes and lock-outs -

(1) No person employed in a public utility service shall go on strike, in breach of contract

(a) without giving the employer notice of strike, as hereinafter provided, within six weeks before striking; or

My question: Should workers provide 6 weeks' notice before going on strike? Is it mandatory to provide 6 weeks' notice to the employer?

(b) within fourteen days of giving such notice; or

Question: Can they go on strike after 14 days of serving the strike notice? Please explain this sentence 22(1)(b).

What is this 6 weeks and 14 days..!

(c) before the expiry of the date of strike specified in any such notice as aforesaid; or

Question: Should they not strike before the end of the 42nd day (6th week)?

Regards

The questions you've raised are very important to everyone interested in the subject of industrial relations. However, certain important explanatory notes on strikes and lock-outs preceding the direct answers you sought may be of more help, which I earnestly hope.

Strike and Lock-Out: Double-Edged Weapons

Strike and lock-out are the double-edged weapons in the hands of employees and employers, respectively. They have a potential value of pressurization in the matter of collective bargaining between them. A strike is the most talked about among the two because of its easy and frequent flare-ups and more-felt consequences on the economy and political governance. While labor laws relating to industrial relations, like the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946, mention them, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, provides specific provisions regulating strikes and lock-outs.

The Right to Strike: Legal Perspective

Can we say the right to strike is a legal right? The Supreme Court of India, in its landmark judgment delivered in T.K. Rangarajan v. Govt of Tamil Nadu and Others [(2003) 6 S.C.C 581], has held that (1) there is no fundamental right to go on strike, (2) there is no legal or statutory right to go on strike, and (3) there is no moral or equitable justification to go on strike. It is to be noted that the case was related to a strike by lakhs of government servants and their en masse dismissal. Therefore, the issue of a strike by industrial employees has to be seen from the perspectives of universally accepted collective bargaining tactics and the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The Act does not purport to take away the right to strike or lock-out but impliedly recognizes them by defining them, imposing certain restrictions on them, and declaring when they are not to be deemed as an illegal strike or illegal lock-out.

Delivering the judgment on behalf of the Bench, Hon'ble Justice Rajagopala Ayyangar of the Supreme Court in All India Bank Employees Association v. National Industrial Tribunal [1961 (II) LLJ 385 SC] categorically observed that the right to strike or the right to declare a lock-out may be controlled or restricted by proper industrial legislation. The validity of such legislation would have to be decided not with reference to the criteria laid down in Art.19(4) of the Constitution but on totally different considerations.

Answering Your Questions

Now, I shall answer all your questions at a stretch:

1. Six weeks or 42 days is the maximum notice period, and 14 days is the minimum notice period for the date of the proposed strike. In other words, you cannot go on strike after the expiry of the 42nd day without a fresh notice, and you cannot resort to a strike within 14 days from the date of the notice, i.e., 14 days must have elapsed from the date of the notice to the date of the strike.

Regards.