Union Executive Committees: Are There Legal Limits on the Number of Office Bearers?

Dear All,

As per statute, is there any restriction on the number of office bearers in the executive committee of a recognized union? If yes, may you please kindly specify the relevant provision under the act? Any case law related to the same may please be iterated for easy reference.

Thanks

I would recommend that you read the Trade Union Bare Act and also go through the high court and supreme court settled cases related to your situation.

You are referring to a 'recognised trade union'. Is that trade union registered? If so, under what law?

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Thank you for reaching out with your query regarding the recognized trade union. In order to provide you with accurate information, we need to determine if the mentioned trade union is registered and, if so, the specific law under which it is registered. This information will help us ensure that we are compliant with all legal requirements and regulations related to trade unions.

A trade union registered under the Trade Unions Act should have by-laws which would have been certified/approved by the Registrar of Trade Unions. These by-laws would specify the number of office bearers the trade union can have and their designation. The number of office bearers has to be in accordance with the provisions of the Trade Unions Act.

Question on Office Bearers in Trade Unions

This is the exact question that I am looking for. The number of office bearers in a registered trade union has to be in accordance with the Trade Union Act. As I understand, the number must align with the bye-laws, which can be amended easily. However, is it mandatory for the amended bye-laws to be certified by the Registrar of the trade union for validity? Furthermore, can the management raise an issue if the number is relatively high? For example, for an employee strength of 1,000, there are 7 unions, and the recognized union has nearly 100 office bearers, with 500 votes in favor through a secret ballot election (in a nutshell, 1 office bearer for every 10 employees).

Regards

Dear Mr. Ashish,

Every amendment to the certified bylaws has to be approved/certified again by the Registrar of Trade Unions. The management cannot raise any industrial dispute if the number of office bearers is relatively high simply because the issue of the number of office bearers of a trade union cannot be the subject matter of an industrial dispute and is not an industrial dispute as defined under the Industrial Disputes Act.

Regards