INDIAN OXYGEN LIMITED Vs. WORKMEN AS

JUDGEMENT

(1.) This appeal by special leave by directed against the order of Industrial Tribunal (III) U. P. at Kanpur dated July 14, 1978, deciding the following two preliminary issues which were raised by the Indian Oxygen Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as the Company) against the Company.

(2.) The Company employed some 5400 workmen in its establishment in West Bengal, Bihar, U. P. Assam, Punjab, Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. There were several recognised trade unions of the workmen. The All-India Federation of Indian Oxygen Employees Union (hereafter referred to as the Federal Union) was the recognised federation of some of the trade unions from 1973 onwards. The Indian Oxygen Shramik Sangh (hereafter referred to as the Shramik Sangh), which represented some of the workmen at Kanpur, was affiliated to the Federal Union. There was another union known as the Indian Oxygen Karamchari Union (hereafter referred to as the Karamchari Union) which was registered much earlier but its constitution was revised because of the merger of two other unions in it and was approved by the Registrar of Trade Unions on May 10, 1973. It was not a member of the Federal Union.

(3.) The Federal Union raised a charter of demands in February 1973 of all India nature and a settlement was arrived at on June 22, 1973, according to which the demand for revision of pay scales was to be taken up for discussion at a mutually convenient date. A similar settlement was made with the Shramik Sangh on November 22, 1973. It was followed by negotiations and an order was made for the constitution of a Conciliation Board under S. 3 (d) of the U. P. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereafter referred to as the U. P. Act). A memorandum of settlement was drawn up on April 30, 1974 between the Company and the Shramik Sangh. It was agreed, inter alia, that the question of revision of the dearness allowance of the Kanpur unit employees would be negotiated by the Company with the Federal Unit and/or the Union on or before April 1, 1975.