The court ruled individual workmen can settle disputes but such settlements are not binding on the union or non-signatory workmen, reaffirming the importance of collective bargaining.

ORDER :

N. MALA, J.

(1)This writ petition is filed by the Management of Caterpillar India Private Limited for a writ of certiorarified mandamus, to quash the order dated 25.03.2025, passed in I.A.No.1 of 2024 in OP No.18 of 2023, by the Industrial Tribunal, Chennai, and further to direct the Tribunal to pass an order in terms of Section 18 [1] settlement signed by the Management with the majority of the workmen.

(2)For the sake of convenience, the petitioner will be referred to as 'Management' and the respondent will be referred to as 'Union'.

FACTS IN BRIEF

MANAGEMENT'S CASE:

(3)The Management is a part of a Multi-National Company in existence for many decades and is engaged in the manufacture of off-road heavy vehicles, such as earth-movers, etc and also exports manufactured earth moving vehicles to various countries across the world. The Management has a history of signing long-term wage settlements through collective bargaining with the respondent Union. The last of such settlements covered the period between 2015–2018. The Management states that though the Union was repeatedly invited for negotiations after the settlement of 2016 expired on 31.12.2018, the internal office-bearers did not participate, resulting in a stalemate for more than ten months, due to which the workmen themselves voluntarily approached the management and signed individual settlements under Section 18 [1] on 04.11.2019 and 05.11.2019. The Union hence raised an industrial dispute alleging unfair labour practices which was referred as O.P.No.23 of 2019. However, the dispute was not pursued by the Union since all workmen signed individual settlements. Later, the Tribunal passed an Award on 12.10.2021. The Management states that after the settlement dated 04.11.2019, ended on 31.12.2022, the Management and the Union submitted their respective charter of demands on 12.10.2022 and 23.12.2022. Since the internal office-bearers again failed to participate in the discussions despite notices and invitations, a settlement could not be reached and so an industrial dispute was referred to the Industrial Tribunal, Chennai, and numbered as O.P. No. 18 of 2023. The Management states that during the pendency of the dispute, due to prolonged inaction from the union, 230 out of 326 workmen approached the Management and voluntarily accepted the wage proposal. Hence, a [1] settlement was signed on 14.02.2023 and 15.02.2023. Thereafter, some more workmen signed the 18[1] settlement and finally 246 out of the 326 workmen signed the settlement. The Management states that since the office bearers of the Union attempted to influence workers to deny voluntary consent, the management appointed a retired Judicial Magistrate as an observer to verify free consent. The observer verified the consent of the workmen on 20.02.2023, 21.02.2023 and 08.03.2023 and confirmed that 246 workmen voluntarily signed the [1] settlement. The Management states that since majority of the workmen (246/326) had signed the 18[1] settlement, the Management filed an I.A.No. 1 of 2024, seeking an Award in terms of the 18[1] settlement signed upto 31.12.2026. The Management states that the Industrial Tribunal passed an order on 25.03.2025, dismissing the I.A.No. 1 of 2024, despite its own finding that the majority had signed voluntarily and despite the settled legal position that an Award must be passed when the majority workers accept a settlement. The Management further states that even though the Management filed a