Trade Union Act, 1941

Restrictions on carrying on of negotiations for fixing of wages, etc.

6.—(1) It shall not be lawful for any body of persons, not being an excepted body, to carry on negotiations for the fixing of wages or other conditions of employment unless such body is the holder of a negotiation licence.

(2) Where any body of persons acts in contravention of this section, the members of the committee of management or other controlling authority of such body and such of the officers of such body as consent to or facilitate such act shall each be guilty of an offence under this section and shall each be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding ten pounds, together with, in the case of a continuing offence, a further fine not exceeding one pound for every day during which the offence is continued.

(3) In this section the expression “excepted body” means any of the following bodies, that is to say:—

(a) a body which carries on negotiations for the fixing of the wages or other conditions of employment of its own (but no other) employees,

(b) a body which is registered under the next following sub-section of this section,

(c) a civil service staff association recognised by the Minister for Finance,

(d) an organisation of teachers recognised by the Minister for Education,

(e) the Agricultural Wages Board,

(f) a trade board established under the Trade Board Acts, 1909 and 1918, and

(g) a body in respect of which an order under sub-section (6) of this section is for the time being in force.

(4) The Minister shall, for the purposes of this section, maintain a register and shall enter therein the name of any body which—

(a) applies to the Minister for registration therein, and

(b) accompanies its application by a fee of one pound, and

(c) satisfies the Minister that—

(i) it consists of persons who are usually employed in a particular form of work and are usually employed by the same employer, and

(ii) it carries on negotiations for the fixing of wages or other conditions of employment with that employer only.

(5) All fees under the immediately preceding sub-section of this section shall be collected and taken in such manner as the Minister for Finance directs, and shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in accordance with the directions of the said Minister, and the Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any such fee.

(6) The Minister may by order declare that this section shall not apply in respect of any particular body of persons.

(7) The Minister may by order (which shall come into operation on a specified date not earlier than one month after it is made) revoke any order under the next preceding sub-section of this section.

(8) Nothing in this section shall render it unlawful for any person or group of persons to mediate in a trade dispute or to bring together the parties in a trade dispute with a view to reaching an amicable settlement.

(9) This section shall come into operation on such date not earlier than six months after the passing of this Act as the Minister by order appoints for that purpose.