Workmen are not entitled to wages during an illegal strike; minimum wage must reflect parity with similar undertakings while considering existing agreements.

1. Leave granted.

2. The award of the National Industrial Tribunal, Bombay (hereinafter referred to as 'the Tribunal') adjudicating on the demands o the unions of five Bangalore based public sector undertakings for parity in minimum wage with the minimum wage payable to the employees of another public sector undertaking namely; Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'BHEL') is challenged by the managements as well as the workmen in these appeals.

3. The minimum wage of the lowest cagetory of workmen of five Bangalore based public sector undertakings namely; Bharat Electronics Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'B.E.L.'), Bharat Earth Movers Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'B.E.M.L.'), Indian Telephone Industries Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'I.T.I.') Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'H.A.L.') and Hindustan Machine Tools Limited (hereinafter referred to as 'H.M.T.') was the same in all these public sector undertakings. By settlements entered into on various dates in 1974 between managements and the workmen of these five undertakings except I.T.I., the minimum wage of the lowest category of workmen was fixed at Rs. 300/- consisting of basic pay of Rs. 200/- + Dearness Allowance of Rs. 100/- which was linked with Local Consumer Price Index. The minimum wage in I.T.I. was also fixed at Rs.300/-. As dearness allowance was linked with All India Consumer Price Index, on the basis of the Index prevailing as on 1-12-1973, the Dearness Allowance payable on the basic wage of Rs. 200/- came to Rs. 91/- and, hence in order to bring uniformity in the minimum wage, the employees of the I.T.I. were paid City Compensatory Allowance (hereinafter referred to as 'C.C.A.') of Rs. 9/- at 41/2% of the basic pay. The settlements in these five undertakings were to be in force till 31-12-1976.

4. In BHEL, with whom parity was being claimed by the workmen of these five industries, an agreement dated 17/18-9-73 had been entered into whereby the minimum wage was fixed at Rs. 258. 70/- comprising of basic pay of Rs. 200/- and Dearness Allowance of Rs. 58/- at the All India Consumer Price Index of 200 points for industrial workers with 1960 base. A revision was effected by agreement dated 17/18-1-1974 and the minimum wage of the workers of BHEL was fixed at Rs. 300/-. This minimum wage, and the wage structure constructed on this basis, came into force with effect from 1-9-1973 and was to be in force for a period of four years. This agreement expired at the end of August 1977 and negotiations for the review and revision of the same w.e.f. 1-9-1977 were commenced between the management and the workers in March, 1978. A final agreement between the management and the workers was reached on 8/9-1-1980. By this agreement, the wages as on 1-1-1978 for an unskilled employee in BHEL at the lowest level was fixed at Rs. 500/- per month at All India Consumer Price Index of 327 points. This agreement was to be effective from 1-1-1978 and was implemented in April, 1980.

5. The 1974 settlements between the managements of B.E.L.., I.T.I., H.A.L., and B.E.M.L. expired on 31-12-1976 and hence the workmen unions submitted charters of demands in early part of 1977. Conciliation proceedings were held between the managements of five public sector undertakings