ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the key objectives of Indian labour laws and presents the structure of the labour laws in the Indian political context. It provides the basic frameworks and their key provisions, and an overview of the obligations of the employers. The chapter describes the working of labour laws and also presents the precautions that employers need to take to comply with the labour laws. The Indian labour law system lays out three principal industrial relations laws, which seek to regulate employer-employee relations: the Trade Unions Act (TUA), 1926, the Industrial Employment Act, 1946 and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. TUA seeks to provide for registration of trade unions, and thus to create a countervailing power in favour of the working class in the game of industrial relations. Recognition of a trade union is purely a discretionary matter for the employer; the employer can refuse to recognize a union or unions without any legal consequences.
