The Supreme Court on Monday questioned
the Indian Medical Association how ethical is their strike. Strike is a weapon
of bargain for the workers to bring pressure upon the employer to concede to
their demands. Strikes are a mode of collective bargaining.
Section 2(q) of the Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947 defines ‘strike’ as: "strike" means a cessation of work
by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in combination or a concerted
refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding, of any number of persons
who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept employment;
Section 22: Prohibition of
strikes and lock-outs- (1) No person employed in a public utility service shall
go on strike in breach of contract--
(a) without giving to the
employer notice of strike, as herein-after provided, within six weeks before striking;
or
(b) within fourteen days of
giving such notice; or
(c) before the expiry of the date
of strike specified in any such notice as aforesaid; or
(d) during the pendency of any
conciliation proceedings before a conciliation officer and seven days after the
conclusion of such proceedings.
Strikes are prohibited in public utilities
in order to prevent the public from unwarranted harassment. The Government is
authorized to issue declaration only in respect of the industries enumerated in
the First Schedule and there must be proved necessity for doing so. The First
schedule to the Act enumerates 23 industries including banking, fire brigade
services, coal, cement, foodstuffs, service in hospitals and dispensaries and defence
establishments among others. The Government is authorized to issue a
declaration in respect of these services and t must be in the interest of
public or there must be public emergency to do so.
Public utility services are those
services which fulfill some of the basic requirements of the public. They
provide for the infrastructure for the development of the country. These
include services like gas, electricity, insurance, banking, hospitals and air
services, etc.
In a country like India, where
the ratio of doctors per 1000 persons is dismal, a strike by the doctors is
bound to affect the public at large. While the strike may be legal in nature
but the question remains whether it is ethical.
[1] Section
2(n): "public utility service" means--
(i) any railway service or any transport service for
the carriage of passengers or goods by air;
(ia) any service in, or in connection with the working
of, any major port or dock;
(ii) any section of an industrial establishment, on
the working of which the safety of the establishment or the workmen employed
therein depends;
(iii) any postal, telegraph or telephone service;
(iv) any industry which supplies power, light or water
to the public;
(v) any system of public conservancy or sanitation;
(vi) any industry specified in the First Schedule
which the appropriate Government may, if satisfied that public emergency or
public interest so requires, by notification in the Official Gazette, declare to
be a public utility service for the purposes of this Act, for such period as
may be specified in the notification:
Provided that the period so specified shall not, in
the first instance, exceed six months but may, by a like notification, be
extended from time to time, by any period not exceeding six months, at any one
time if in the opinion of the appropriate Government public emergency or public
interest requires such extension;
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