The Southern Railway Mazdoor Union (SRMU) has filed a writ petition in the Madras High Court challenging two provisions of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 since they introduce new criteria for recognising trade unions.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy ordered notices to the Centre as well as the Railway Board and made it clear that they should file their counter affidavits before the matter gets listed on September 8.
Appearing on behalf of SRMU, senior counsel A.L. Somayaji urged the court to strike down Sections 14(3) and 14(4) of the Industrial Relations Code on the ground that the new criteria for recognition of trade unions were impossible to comply with.
According to the new criteria, if there were more than one union in an establishment, the method of selecting the recognised union would be by secret ballot and the union securing 51% or above of the total strength of the workmen present on the muster roll of the organization alone would be considered as the recognised union.
Stating such criteria was difficult to achieve and it was an impracticable guideline, the senior counsel said 100% polling could not be ensured even in the democratic elections of the country, right from the stage of corporation councillor to the President.
In an affidavit filed through its counsel on record C.K. Chandrasekar, SRMU, said if a union was expected to achieve 51% of the total strength of the muster roll in the polling exercise and assuming if there was only 51% polling in an election, then a union expecting recognition must achieve the impossible fete of securing 100% of the polled votes.
It was also brought to the notice of the court that SRMU had been the recognised union since 1965.
