The Madras High Court has held that every employee of an establishment — irrespective of cadre, class or designation — has the right to become a member of a trade union and participate in its recognition elections. Delivering the order in W.P. No. 45122 of 2025 (with connected WMP Nos. 53422/2025 and 50272/2025)on 08 December 2025, Justice D. Bharatha Chakravarthy dismissed a petition by the Tamil Nadu NugrporulVanibaKazhaga Anna Thozhir Sangam, a registered union of the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd. (TNCSC), challenging the inclusion of various classes of employees in the electoral rolls.
The petitioner argued that Class I and Class II officers, and seasonal workers, should be excluded from voting because they were not “workmen” within traditional definitions. However, the Court noted that the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (which came into force on 20 November 2025) contains express statutory provisions on the recognition of negotiating unions or negotiating councils in an establishment. Specifically, Section 14 requires employers to recognise a trade union with majority support (51% or more) as the sole negotiating union.If no union secures 51%, representatives of unions securing at least 20% support must form a negotiating council for collective bargaining.The scheme reflects a statutory mandate to assess representative capacity through inclusive participation in elections.
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The Court examined Section 2(zr) of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, which defines “worker” broadly to include any person employed in any industry doing manual, technical, clerical, supervisory or similar work, subject only to specific exclusions. Under the proviso to the definition, all persons employed in trade or industry must be counted for the purposes of Chapter III (which includes trade union recognition). On this basis, the Court held that Class I and Class II officers and seasonal employees could not be excluded from the voters’ list merely because they were not “workmen” in the traditional sense.
The judgment referred to an earlier ruling by the High Court in W.P. No. 32561 of 2022 (dated 24.06.2025) involving seasonal workers’ participation in union elections, where the Court upheld their inclusion on the voters’ list and dismissed attempts to restrict the electorate. The petitioner had participated in that election without objection and was therefore estopped from challenging the voters’ list again.
Rejecting the challenge, the Court directed that the election process — including all eligible employees in the voters’ list — should proceed as notified. The ruling reinforces the principle of inclusive participation in trade union governance and confirms that all employees can join trade unions and take part in polls under the current labour law.
