No defence, union leader can’t rule

The Act, which was amended in 2001, says, ‘‘No member of the council of ministers or a person holding an office of profit in the Union or a state, shall be a member of the executive or other officer bearer of a registered trade union.’’

Fernandes being the defence minister is clearly part of the government and thus, cannot hold his post as national president of the Mumbai Labour Union and Bombay Fire Services Union, says the deputy registrar, who works in the Labour Commissioner’s office, which is a state body.

Patil’s findings were submitted recently after the High Court had directed the labour commissioner to appoint a competent authority to probe the issue of trade union leaders holding offices of profit.

Pius Varghese, president of the RKS — a trade union whose members are largely from pharmaceutical and engineering companies — was the person who filed the PIL in 2002, pointing out disparities in the implementation of the Act. Sachin Ahir, president of the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sanghtana and Bhai Jagtap, General Secretary of Bharatiya Kamghar Karmachari Sangh, also named in the petition, too have been disqualified on the same grounds.

Another person named in the PIL was State Labour Minister Satish Chaturvedi, who had, however, stepped down from various posts that he had held in trade unions in Nagpur following his appointment in the Cabinet.The order is significant in that the support base of the trade union leaders mentioned in the PIL lie among Class III and IV textile and mill workers.

And if they step down as the heads of their respective unions, a power struggle is likely to erupt in the absence of a popular and charismatic face at the helm of affairs.