Home  /  Industrial Relations Code, 2020  /  Section 7

Section 7: Provisions to be contained in constitution or rules of Trade Union

The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (Act No. 35 of 2020) • Official Statutory Text & Plain English Practice Guide

Statutory Mandate
Chapter III: Trade Unions
Competent Labour Forum
Act No. 35 of 2020
Section 6 All 104 Sections of Industrial Relations Code, 2020 Section 8

Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 7

Section 7 of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020 establishes mandatory numerical thresholds for the registration of Trade Unions, requiring that no Trade Union shall be registered unless at least 10% of the workers or 100 workers (whichever is less) are members, and mandating a continuous minimum of 7 worker applicants, eliminating fragmented and unrepresentative paper unions.

  • The 10% or 100 Workers Dual Threshold Benchmark: Section 7(1) establishes that no Trade Union of workers shall be registered unless at least ten percent of the workers or one hundred workers, whichever is less, engaged or employed in the industrial establishment or industry with which it is connected, are its members on the date of making the application.
  • Minimum Seven Subscribing Worker Requisite: Section 7(1) proviso mandates that no Trade Union shall be registered unless at least seven members thereof are workers engaged or employed in the establishment or industry on the date of application and subscribe their names to the rules of the Trade Union.
  • Continuous Threshold Maintenance Obligation: Section 7(2) imposes an ongoing statutory obligation on every registered Trade Union to continuously maintain the minimum threshold of ten percent of the workers or one hundred workers; if membership falls below this benchmark, the registration is liable to cancellation under Section 10.
Key Landmark Precedents:
  • Food Corporation of India Staff Union v. Food Corporation of India 1995 Supp (1) SCC 678: The Supreme Court highlighted that representative democracy in labor relations demands verifiable membership thresholds, endorsing secret ballot and documentary verification to ensure that only unions with genuine worker backing engage in collective bargaining.
  • Balmer Lawrie Workers Union v. Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd. 1985 Supp SCC 280: The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of statutory schemes that classify and recognize unions based on representative strength, holding that curbing multi-union fragmentation and mushrooming unrepresentative bodies serves industrial peace.
  • State of Uttar Pradesh v. Col. Sujan Singh AIR 1964 SC 1897: The Supreme Court affirmed that mandatory statutory preconditions governing registration must be strictly fulfilled on the date of application; conditional or retrospective compliance cannot cure a statutory deficit.
Courtroom Practice & Strategic Litigation Guidance:

Before submitting an application for Trade Union registration, union organizers must conduct a formal audit of membership forms, subscription payment receipts, and employee rolls to ensure verifiable proof that the 10% or 100 worker threshold is fully satisfied. Employers challenging the representative status or strike notices of newly formed unions must inspect the union's registration certificate and filing date to verify whether Section 7 thresholds were maintained, petitioning the Registrar under Section 10 if membership falls below the statutory minimum.

Section 6 All 104 Sections of Industrial Relations Code, 2020 Section 8