Trade unions sound alarm over Supreme Court judgment on definition of industry

Left-leaning trade unions have expressed concern over a nine-judge bench judgment of the Supreme Court that said the definition of industry as per a 1978 judgment of the apex court will not be applicable to the recently implemented Industrial Relations Code. They alleged that the latest judgment reflects “a structural tilt” towards institutional and managerial interests over the collective rights and bargaining power of workers.

“Justice Nagarathna rightly questioned the necessity of reopening a settled jurisprudence of nearly five decades, particularly when the Industrial Relations Code has already replaced the Industrial Disputes Act,” said All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) general secretary Amarjeet Kaur.

She said the AITUC is deeply concerned that the majority judges have left crucial questions to future litigation instead of confronting the implications of the narrower and exclusionary architecture of Section 2(p) of the Industrial Relations Code.