PREMIER AUTOMOBILES Vs. G R SAPRE

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The Premier Automobiles Limited, the employers, manufacture the motor cars, commercial vehicles and spare parts. Its work is carried on at three plants. Its main plant is situated at Kurla and is known as Kurla Plant, where the work of assembling the bodies of the vehicles is undertaken. Its another plant, at Dombivli known as Kalyan plant manufactures the sheet metal components and is considered to be a stamping plant. Its third plant is located at Wadala, where the castings reauired for the vehicles are manufactured. In the verv nature of things plants at Kalyan and Wadala are feeder plants, manufactured goods from which are used at Kurla plant, where the vehicles are given a final shape.

(2.) Respondent No. 2 is a Union of workmen duly registered under the Indian Trade Unions Act and admittedly commands a large following at the Kalyan plant. The employers have recognised it, under the Code of Conduct, as a representative Union of their workmen at Kalyan plant for all practical purposes, though it is not as yet recognised as such Union under the provisions of the Maharashtra Recognition of Trade Unions and Prevention of Unfair Labour Practices Act, 1971 (hereinafter referred to as 'the Act'). Respondent No, 2 claims to represent also the workmen at Kurla and Wadala plants. It called upon the employers in or about October, 1978, to recognise it as the sole representative of workmen at these plants. However, two other Unions, viz. Premier Automobiles Employees' Union and Premier Automobiles Mechanite Foundry Employees' Union, have been recognised as the representative Unions of the workmen at these two plants under the Act. Such recognition is granted to these two Unions after enquiry and notice to all the concerned. The employers therefore pleaded their inability to so recognise respondent No. 2 as the representative Union of the workmen at their Kurla and Wadala plants in the face of the compelling provisions of the Act to the contrary. This dispute gave rise to certain incidents.

(3.) On 28th November, 1978, some workmen, including the officers were assaulted and stabbed and consequently hospitalised. Some incident to the same effect also took place at Wadala plant on a minor scale. The workmen at all the three plants virtually went on strike without any notice and did not do any work for a day or two. They also adopted go-slow tactics at Kurla plant from 2nd December, 1978, reducing the pace of production from 74 cars to 40 cars per day. The case of the employers is that, all this was due to the inflammatory speeches of the office bearers of respondent No. 2 Union who instigated their followers at Kurla and Wadala plants, to coerce other workmen to join the Union and force the employer to recognise it as the sole spokesman of the workmen at Kurla and Wadala plant without getting itself recognised under the Act. This respondent No. 2 did in spite of such recognition being prohibited under the provisions of the Act.