Trade Disputes (Amendment) Bill

Bill No. 23/1981

Read the first time on 14th August 1981.

An Act to amend the Trade Disputes Act (Chapter 128 of the Revised Edition).

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows: —

Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Trade Disputes (Amendment) Act, 1981.

Amendment of section 2

2. Section 2 of the Trade Disputes Act (referred to in this Act as the principal Act) is amended —

(a)

by inserting, immediately after the definition of “award”, the following definition: —

“ “industrial action” means —

(a)	any act or omission by a body of persons employed in any trade or industry, acting in combination or under a common understanding, which would result in any limitation or restriction on, or delay in, the performance of any duties connected with their employment; or
(b)	a strike, that is to say, the cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any trade or industry acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding of a number of persons who are, or who have been so employed, to continue to work or to accept employment;”; and

(b)

by deleting the definition of “strike”.

Amendment of section 3

3. Section 3 of the principal Act is amended —

(a)	by deleting the words “A strike” in the first line of subsection (1) and substituting the words “An industrial action”;
(b)	by deleting the word “strikers” in paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and substituting the words “persons taking part in the industrial action”; and
(c)	by deleting the word “strikes” in the marginal note and substituting the words “industrial action”.

Repeal and re-enactment of section 4

4. Section 4 of the principal Act is repealed and the following section substituted therefor: —

“When lock-out or industrial action not deemed to be illegal

4. A lock-out in consequence of an illegal industrial action or an industrial action in consequence of an illegal lock-out shall not be deemed to be illegal.”.

Miscellaneous amendments

5. The principal Act is amended —

(a)

by deleting the words “strike” and “strikes” wherever they appear in the following provisions and in the marginal notes thereto and substituting in each case the words “industrial action”: —

Sections 5(1), 6, 7 and 8(1);

(b)

by deleting the words “five hundred dollars” wherever they appear in the following provisions and substituting in each case the words “two thousand dollars”: —

Sections 5(1), 9 and 11; and

(c)

by deleting the words “two thousand dollars” wherever they appear in the following provisions and substituting in each case the words “five thousand dollars”: —

Sections 5(2), 6, 7 and 8(2).

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