A short overview on the Trade Disputes Act, 1929, which preceded the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. The enactment was meant to regulate disputes between employers and workers in India.

1. The Trade Disputes
Act, 1929

2. Legislations for solving
Industrial Disputes in India
1. Employers’ and Workmen’s Disputes Act, 1869
2. Trade Disputes Act, 1929
3. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
 Employers’ and Workmen’s Disputes Act was
much against workers and was repealed in
1932. It was the first legislative measure
dealing with settlement of Industrial Disputes
in India.

3. Background
• Prior to the First World War, strike was a rare
phenomenon. Strikes appeared in violent forms after
the war in 1920.
• There was the general mill strike in 1924.

4. Object
• The principal object of the Act was to provide a conciliation machinery to
bring about peaceful settlement of industrial disputes. The Act authorized the
central and state governments to establish a board of conciliation or the court
of inquiry to investigate into and settle industrial disputes. These tribunals
were set up on ad hoc basis.
• The Act prohibited strikes and lock outs in public utility services without prior
notice. Such strikes were illegal and punishable under the Act.
• Strike for any purpose other than furtherance of an industrial dispute was also
declared illegal.

5. Defects
• Decisions passed by the Board of Conciliation or the Court of Inquiry were
not binding on the parties. This defect was overcome during the Second
World War under Rule 81A of the Defence of India Rules. This rule
empowered the Central Government to refer industrial disputes
compulsorily to adjudicators and to enforce their awards. The Industrial
Disputes Act, 1947 permanently embodies similar provisions.
• The conciliation could be set in process only when both the parties agreed.
It was voluntary.
• The Act did not provide for a permanent machinery for dispute settlement.

6. Repeal
• Experience of the working of the Act revealed that
it was inadequate to maintain industrial peace.
There was a need for a fresh legislation. The Act
had already been amended several times.
• Thus, the Industrial Disputes Act, 1948, was passed
which repealed and replaced the Act.