7.3. Trade Unions

♤ In terms of Section 2 of the Trade Unions Act, 1926, a “Trade Union means a combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the purpose of regulating relations between workmen and employers or between workmen and workmen or between employers and employers, or for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business, and includes any federation of two or more Trade Unions.”

♤ The objective of the Trade Unions Act is to provide a legal existence and protection to the Trade Unions as defined above.

♤ Importantly, it is also provided that no member of the Council of Ministers or a person holding an office of profit (not being an engagement or employment in an establishment or industry with which the Trade Union is connected), in the Union or a State, shall be a member of the executive or other office bearer of a registered Trade Union.