1. ' JUSTICE (RETD.) TANVIR AHMED KHAN (CHAIRMAN/RITU).---This petition is directed against the order dated 26th of March, 2005 of Registrar whereby he dismissed the application filed by the petitioner as well as the application filed by two other unions namely ABL Staff Union of Pakistan, Lahore and Employees Unions of ABL Multan.
2. ' Facts briefly for the disposal of this petition are that earlier the respondent-Federation i,e, Allied Bank Workers Federation of Pakistan filed Petition No,2(8)/2004 under section 20(2) read with section 18(5) of the I.R.O., 2002 (hereinafter referred to as an Ordinance) making prayer that the Federation be declared as a CBA for Allied Bank of Pakistan.
3. ' Another Petition bearing No,9(1)/03 was also filed under section 56 of the I.R.O. 1969 since repealed raising an industrial dispute by this very Federation against the petitioner-Bank stating that 600 employees engaged through Human Resource Service in the Allied Bank of Pakistan have been threatened as their services are being terminated and in this respect the petitioner-Bank got published an advertisement in the daily newspapers of national repute for the appointment of other workers for the jobs which those employees have been performing for the last many years.
4. ' Both these matters were hotly contested by the petitioner-Bank. They were disposed of on 16-12- 2004 through different orders. In the later Petition No,9 (1)/03 Mr. Shahid Anwar Bajwa learned counsel for the Bank after objecting to the very maintainability of the petition stated that he would not have any objection if status quo order be passed which should remain in force for three months qua the employment of those employees. Since the referendum was not held in the Bank for quite some time, as such it was directed that it be held and be finalized within three months. It was also noted in that order that Allied Bank of Pakistan was declared one CBU on 29-4-2004 and thereafter 18 unions had got themselves registered on industry-wise basis with the N.I.R.C. The referendum was ordered to be held under the supervision of Qazi Ahmed Saeed, Registrar, N.I.R.C.
5. ' The other Petition No,2(8)/04 whereby the Allied Bank Workers Federation of Pakistan sought its declaration as CBA became infructuous as already direction for the determination of CBA was given in connected petition. It would be appropriate to reproduce that order which is in the following terms: "Since already in an order of even date passed in Case No,9(1)/03 this very Federation with the concurrence of the parties, I have directed for holding referendum for the determination of CBA in the Allied Bank of Pakistan, as such the present application in the circumstances has become infructuous. Order accordingly."
6. ' Consequent to the aforesaid order the Registrar embarked upon holding of the referendum in the establishment. The appellant-Bank as well as two other unions filed petition taking exceptions to the participation of respondent Allied Bank Workers Federation of Pakistan in the referendum. The said applications have been dismissed through impugned order dated 28-4-2005. Hence this petition.
7. ' I have considered the contentions and have gone through all the documents appended with this petition. The first argument of the learned counsel appearing for the petitioner, Mr. Shahid Anwar Bajwa that the Registrar did not have any power to decide the applications, which according to him, he should have referred the same to RITU as question of interpretation of law was involved has got no force in the present circumstances. The matter has come before me in the form of a petition after the dismissal of the application by Registrar which, I am going to dispose of on merits. Any indulgence in this argument at this stage would only be an academic exercise which would amount to keep the contesting parties away from substantial justice. The main point argued by the learned counsel for the petitioner-Bank is that the Federation is not a trade union as such it cannot participate in the referendum. It is to be appreciated that the Federation has not been defined independently but included in definition of trade union as defined in section 2(xxix) of the Industrial Relations Ordinance, 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the Ordinance) which is in the following terms._ "trade union" means any combination of workers formed primarily for the purpose of furthering and defending the interests and rights of workers in any industry or establishment and includes an industry-wise federation of two or more collective bargaining agent unions and a federation at the national level of ten or more collective bargaining agent unions."
8. ' Since respondent-Federation was registered as a trade union on industry wise basis as far back as on 10-5-1983 under Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969, since repealed, as such the definition of trade union given therein under section 2(xxvi) would also be relevant. It provided as under: "Trade Union" means any combination of workmen or employers formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the relations between workmen and employers, or workmen and workmen or employers and employer, or for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business and includes a federation of two or more trade unions."
9. ' While implementing the Ordinance in the year, 2002 the legislature under section 80 of the Ordinance has given protection to the federations already registered under repealed Ordinance.
10. The law does not stop here. It is clearly provided under section 14(1) of the Ordinance that a trade union is a body corporate and has got perpetual succession. Till date the registration of the federation with this Commission is intact and has not been cancelled. Further more section 18 of the Ordinance in the present dispensation has also upheld the concept of federation. It is provided therein that any two or more registered trade unions belonging to an industry may constitute an industry wise federation. The present federation satisfied this criteria as after determination of one collective bargaining unit in the petitioner-Bank through order dated 29-4-2004 nearly 18 local unions have amended their constitutions and joined the federation except two unions who for the reasons' best known to them are challenging the status of the federation. The reading of the above provisions of law does not deprive the federation from the status of a trade union.
11. ' So far the participation of the Federation in the referendum is concerned; the law has clearly given mandate in this regard. Reference is made to the functions of the Commission as provided under section 49(4)(e) of the Ordinance which has laid down as under: "(4) The functions of the Commission shall be to-
(a) .
(b) register industry-wise trade unions, federations of such trade unions and federations at the national level and carry out ratings of the trade unions and federations registered by it in terms of their standing and representative character;
(c) determine the collective bargaining agents amongst industry-wise trade unions, Federations of such trade unions and federations at the national level."
12. (Underlining is mine)
13. ' The aforementioned provision has mandated to the Commission to determine a CBA in any establishment having federation of trade unions. In this background the respondent-Federation cannot be restrained to participate in the referendum which is its legal right. All rights which accrued to the Federation under the law cannot be interfered with, unless and until the registration thereof is cancelled.
14. ' Mr. Shahid Anwar Bajwa further contended that there is no conception the Ordinance that a trade union may contest the referendum through another trade union; the contention of the learned counsel has no legal force. Reference is made to section 20(3) (b) which is reproduced below:- "(3) upon receipt of an application under subsection (2) the Registrar shall, by notice in writing, call upon every registered trade union in the establishment or group of establishments to which the applications relates-
(a) to indicate whether it desires to be a contestant in the secret ballot to be held for determining the collective bargaining agent in relation to such establishment or group of establishments, as the case may be; and
(b) to submit to him within the time specified in the notice a list of its members showing, in respect of each member, his parentage, age, the section or department and the place in which he is employed, his ticket number and the date of his becoming a member and if the trade union is a Federation of trade unions, a list of its affiliated trade unions together with a list of members of each such trade union showing in respect of each such member the said particulars."
15. (Underlining is mine)
16. ' The aforementioned provision demonstrates that in case of referendum the Registrar would also call upon the federation to submit the list of the affiliated trade unions together with the list of members of such trade unions for the smooth conduct of referendum. At the cost of repetition by going through all the aforementioned provisions one comes to an irresistible conclusion that the federation under the present dispensation has not been debarred from participating in the referendum. On the contrary the aforementioned provisions of the Ordinance detailed in preceding paragraphs cast a duty upon the Federation as well to associate and cooperate with the Commission in the determination of CBA in an establishment. This practice if approved would promote healthy trade unionism in the country and would discourage mushroom growth of unions.
17. In case a federation is determined as CBA then in that eventuality the employer would have only to deal with the federation and not with the federated trade unions. The office-bearers of the affiliated unions would only be promoting their cause through federation. The present Ordinance has also discouraged the tendency of mushroom growth of unions by making restriction under section 6(2)(b) wherein it is provided that where there are two or more registered trade union in an establishment the third union for its registration would require support of one fourth workers of the total number. Similarly section 54 of the Ordinance has introduced the concept of collective bargaining units which also discourage the mushroom growth of the unions. The concept of federation of trade unions is also a step further in the same direction to discourage the tendency of Mushroom growth of the trade unions. After formation of federation the affiliated trade unions would only send their delegates to represent in the federation and the employer in that eventuality would only have to deal with the federation and not affiliated trade unions.
18. ' Resultantly for what has been stated above, no exception can be taken to the participation of the Federation in the referendum. The petition having no force is dismissed.