Rule 41. Protected workers

(1) Every registered Trade Union connected with an industrial establishment, to which the provisions of the Code apply, shall communicate to the employer before the 30th April of every year, the names and addresses of such of the officers of such Trade Union who are employed in that establishment and who, in the opinion of such Trade Union should be recognized as protected workers.

(2) Any change in the incumbency of any officer of the Trade Union referred to in sub-rule (1) shall be communicated to the employer by such Trade Union within fifteen days of such change.

(3) The employer shall, within fifteen days of the receipt of the names and addresses from the Trade Union under sub-rule(1) and subject to the provisions of sub-section (3) and sub-section (4) of section 90, recognize such workers to be protected workers for the purposes of the said section and communicate to such Trade Union, in writing, the list of workers recognized as protected workers for a period of twelve months from the date of such communication.

(4) Where the total number of names received by the employer under sub-rule (1) exceeds the maximum number of protected workers, admissible for the industrial establishment under sub-section (4) of section 90, the employer shall recognize only such maximum number of workers as protected workers:

Provided that where there is more than one registered Trade Union in the industrial establishment, the maximum number shall be so distributed by the employer among the Trade Unions that the numbers of recognized protected workers in individual Trade Unions bear practicably the same proportion to one another as the membership figures of the Trade Unions; and the employer shall in that case intimate in writing to the President or the Secretary of each of the concerned Trade Union, the number of protected workers allotted to it:

Provided further that where the number of protected workers allotted to such a Trade Union under this sub-rule falls short of the number of officers of such Trade Union seeking protection, then that Trade Union shall be entitled to select the officers to be recognized as protected workers; and such selection shall be made by that Trade Union and communicated to the employer within five days of the receipt of written intimation of the employer in this regard.

(5) Where a dispute arises between an employer and any registered Trade Union in any matter connected with the recognition of protected workers under this rule, such dispute shall be referred to the concerned Assistant Commissioner of Labour or the Deputy Commissioner of Labour or the Joint Commissioner of Labour whose decision thereon shall be final.