Gopal Sri Ram JCA:

This is the judgment of the court.

The appellant before us is the owner of a rubber estate. The two respondents are its former employees. By a Collective Agreement which by its terms was deemed to take effect from 1 December 1990 made between the appellant and the National Union of Plantation Workers of which the respondents are members, the terms and conditions of employment of the appellant's employees were negotiated and settled. That Collective Agreement was taken cognizance of by the Industrial Court under s. 16 of the Industrial Relations Act 1967. Accordingly, the terms set out in the Collective Agreement became implied terms in the contract of service that existed between the appellant and the respondents. This is as a result of s. 17(2) Industrial Relations Act 1967 which reads as follows:

17(2) As from such date and for such period as may be specified in the Collective Agreement it shall be an implied term of the contract between the workmen and employers bound by the agreement that the rates of wages to be paid and the conditions of employment to be observed under the contract shall be in accordance with the agreement unless varied by a subseq