Yes, on the same terms as any other worker. Under the Industrial Relations Code 2020, no one employed in an industrial establishment may strike without giving notice within the sixty days before, or within fourteen days of giving it, or while conciliation or a settlement covering the issue is running. A strike that keeps those rules is lawful, and an employer may not recruit to replace it, including by handing the work to a contractor.
Do the strike rules cover a contractor's crew?
Yes. The IR Code's definition of a worker in section 2(zr) is any person employed in an industry to do manual, skilled, technical, clerical or supervisory work "for hire or reward", which takes in a contractor's crew. Its definition of employer in section 2(m) expressly includes a contractor. Section 62(1) then applies to every "person employed in an industrial establishment", not to a contractor's workers separately.
Two changes from the old law matter on a site. The notice rule now covers every industrial establishment, where section 22 of the repealed Industrial Disputes Act 1947 imposed it on public utility services [VERIFY: against the 1947 Act]. And a strike, under section 2(zk), "includes the concerted casual leave on a given day by fifty per cent. or more workers employed in an industry". A mass leave application on the same day can be a strike in law.
When a strike is not allowed
Section 62(1) lists seven situations in which no one may strike "in breach of contract". A strike begun in any of them is illegal under section 63(1).
| No strike… | Section 62(1) |
|---|---|
| Without notice to the employer given within the sixty days before striking | (a) |
| Within fourteen days of giving that notice | (b) |
| Before the strike date named in the notice | (c) |
| While conciliation is pending, and for seven days after it concludes | (d) |
| While a Tribunal or National Industrial Tribunal case is pending, and for sixty days after | (e) |
| While a notified arbitration is pending, and for sixty days after | (f) |
| While a settlement or award is in operation, on the matters it covers | (g) |
The same seven limits apply to an employer's lock-out under section 62(2). A strike that has already begun before a dispute goes to a Tribunal or arbitrator does not become illegal by that reference alone, provided it was lawful when it began (s.63(2)).
How notice is given, and who reports it
In writing, in a prescribed form, to the employer, who must report it. Under rule 25 of the Industrial Relations (Central) Rules 2026, notice of strike is given in Form XI. It is signed by the secretary of the registered trade union or, where there is none, by five elected representatives of the workers, with copies to the conciliation officer, the Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) and the Ministry of Labour. The employer who receives it must report it electronically to the conciliation officer and the Chief Labour Commissioner within five days (s.62(6); r.25(3)). Receipt of the notice starts conciliation (s.60(1); r.23), and from then the strike is barred until seven days after conciliation ends.
For a contractor's crew, the employer the notice is addressed to may be the contractor. The site still needs to know the same day, because the strike happens on its floor and a lock-out or a settlement on its side affects the same dispute. The Central Rules govern where the Central Government is the appropriate Government. Most Tamil Nadu factories fall to the State [VERIFY: the Tamil Nadu rules under the IR Code, their status, and the form and addressees they prescribe for a strike notice].
What the site and the contractor cannot do
Three of the unfair labour practices in Part I of the Second Schedule to the IR Code are written for a strike that is not illegal, and each one is a staffing decision:
- Recruiting replacements. Item 12: "To recruit worker during a strike which is not an illegal strike."
- Contracting the work out. Item 6: "To abolish the work of a regular nature being done by workers, and to give such work to contractors as a measure of breaking a strike."
- Dismissing strikers. Item 4(b): discharging or dismissing a worker for taking part in a strike that is not illegal.
An unfair labour practice carries a fine of ₹10,000 to ₹2 lakh, and ₹50,000 to ₹5 lakh or up to three months' imprisonment on a repeat (s.86(5)–(6)). An illegal strike has consequences for the workers too: ₹1,000 to ₹10,000 or up to a month's imprisonment for taking part (s.86(13)), and ₹10,000 to ₹50,000 for instigating one (s.86(15)). Wages follow attendance. Under section 20 of the Code on Wages 2019, a worker on a stay-in strike counts as absent, and where ten or more workers act in concert without due notice and reasonable cause, the deduction may include up to eight days' wages in lieu of notice.
What a site should do when notice arrives
- Get the notice to both employers the same day. Whichever of the site and the contractor receives it, the other should have a copy, with the date of receipt recorded, since the fourteen days and the five-day report both run from it.
- Confirm the five-day report has gone to the conciliation officer and the Chief Labour Commissioner, or the State authority where the State rules apply.
- Check for a settlement or pending proceedings on the same issue, which decide whether a strike on the notified date would be barred.
- Do not ask any contractor, including the crew's own, to bring in replacements while a strike that is not illegal runs. That is the practice item 12 names.
- Keep attendance exactly as it happens, gate register and muster roll, because wages, any deduction and any later proceeding all turn on who worked on which day.
How Velura Services helps
When a strike notice comes from a crew we employ, we pass it to the site the day it reaches us and make the report to the conciliation officer that the Code requires of the employer. We keep the gate register and muster roll exactly as the days happen, and we do not recruit or deploy workers to replace a crew on a strike that is not illegal.
Sources
- The Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (Act 35 of 2020), Gazette text hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Sections cited: s.2(m) (employer, including a contractor), s.2(zk) (strike, including concerted casual leave by 50% or more), s.2(zr) (worker), s.60(1) (conciliation begins on notice), s.62 (prohibition of strikes and lock-outs; five-day report), s.63 (illegal strikes), s.86(5), (6), (13) and (15) (penalties), Second Schedule Part I items 4(b), 6 and 12 (unfair labour practices). Opened and read.
- The Industrial Relations Code (Amendment) Act, 2026, Gazette of India Extraordinary Part II Section 1, No. 3, 16 February 2026. Checked: it does not amend the strike provisions. Opened and read.
- Industrial Relations (Central) Rules, 2026, G.S.R. 342(E), Gazette of India, 8 May 2026. Rule 23 (conciliation on a notice of strike), rule 25 and Form XI (notice of strike; signatories; copies; employer's five-day intimation). Opened and read.
- The Code on Wages, 2019 (Act 29 of 2019), Gazette text hosted by the Ministry of Labour and Employment. Section 20 (deductions for absence; stay-in strike; up to eight days' wages where ten or more act in concert without notice). Opened and read.