The In­dus­tri­al Re­la­tions Act gov­erns the rights of em­ploy­ees and trade unions in­clud­ing who can take in­dus­tri­al ac­tion and the role of the In­dus­tri­al Court.

In­dus­tri­al ac­tion

Un­der sec­tion 2 of the Act "in­dus­tri­al ac­tion" is de­fined as strikes and lock­outs and any ac­tion by an em­ploy­er, trade union or oth­er or­gan­i­sa­tion, or any num­ber of work­ers or oth­er per­sons to com­pel any work­er, trade union, or­gan­i­sa­tion or em­ploy­er, as the case may be, to agree to terms of em­ploy­ment or to com­ply with any de­mands made by them.It in­cludes ac­tion com­mon­ly known as a "sit-down strike", a "go-slow" or a "sick-out".

The ex­pres­sion does not in­clude:

�2 A fail­ure to start or re­fusal to con­tin­ue work be­cause "un­usu­al cir­cum­stances have arisen which are haz­ardous or in­ju­ri­ous to health or life"; and

�2 A fail­ure to start work in any agri­cul­tur­al un­der­tak­ing which is per­formed by task be­cause of a de­lay in the con­clu­sion of cus­tom­ary arrange­ments be­tween em­ploy­ers and work­ers as to the size or na­ture of a task,

When can a work­er take part in in­dus­tri­al ac­tion?

The act says that where there is an "un­re­solved dis­pute" be­tween the em­ploy­er and the recog­nised ma­jor­i­ty union, the em­ploy­er or recog­nised ma­jor­i­ty union may take ac­tion by way of lock­out or strike re­spec­tive­ly. "Lock­out No­tice" or "Strike No­tice" must be giv­en to the oth­er par­ty and to the min­is­ter.Where in­dus­tri­al ac­tion is tak­en oth­er than in keep­ing with the act, the par­ty tak­ing such ac­tion is guilty of an in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions of­fence and sub­ject to the penal­ties un­der the act.

Who can­not take in­dus­tri­al ac­tion?

All em­ploy­ees of es­sen­tial ser­vices are barred from tak­ing in­dus­tri­al ac­tion. Es­sen­tial ser­vices are:

�2 Elec­tric­i­ty Ser­vice;

�2 Wa­ter and Sew­er­age Ser­vices;

�2 In­ter­nal Tele­phone Ser­vice;

�2 Ex­ter­nal Com­mu­ni­ca­tions;

�2 Fire Ser­vice;

�2 Health Ser­vices;

�2 Hos­pi­tal Ser­vices;

�2 San­i­ta­tion Ser­vices

(in­clud­ing scav­eng­ing);

�2 Pub­lic School Bus Ser­vice.

�2 Civ­il Avi­a­tion Ser­vices

Fur­ther, the fol­low­ing per­sons are not al­lowed to take part in any in­dus­tri­al ac­tion:

�2 mem­bers of the Pub­lic Ser­vice

�2 mem­bers of the Po­lice Ser­vice

�2 mem­bers of the Prison Ser­vice

�2 mem­bers of the De­fence Force

�2 mem­bers of the Fire Ser­vice

�2 mem­bers of the Teach­ing Ser­vice

�2 em­ploy­ees of the Cen­tral Bank.

Role of the In­dus­tri­al Court

The In­dus­tri­al Court is a su­pe­ri­or court of record with pow­ers:

�2 To hear and de­cide trade dis­putes;

�2 To reg­is­ter col­lec­tive agree­ments and to hear and de­cide mat­ters re­lat­ing to the reg­is­tra­tion of such agree­ments;

�2 To com­mand trade unions or work­ers from tak­ing or con­tin­u­ing in­dus­tri­al ac­tion;

�2 To de­ter­mine pro­ceed­ings for in­dus­tri­al re­la­tions of­fences un­der the Act.

The In­dus­tri­al Court has the same pow­er as the High Court to pun­ish any con­tempt of court.