26. Membership of minors.

(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, a person under the age of twenty-one, but above the age of sixteen, may be a member of a registered trade union, unless provision be made in the rules thereof to the contrary, and may, subject to the rules of the trade union, enjoy all the rights of a member except as herein provided, and execute all instruments and give all acquittances necessary to be executed or given under the rules, but shall not be a member of the executive or a trustee of a registered trade union:

Provided that no person for whom education is provided in any school, polytechnic, college, university, university college, or any other institution providing education. established by or under any written law, shall join or be a member of or be accepted or retained as a member by any trade union, unless he is

(a) bona fide employed as a workman; and

(b) over the age of eighteen years.

(1A) No person shall join, or be a member of, or be accepted or retained as a member by, any trade union if he is not employed or engaged in any establishment, trade, occupation or industry in respect of which the trade union is registered.

(1B) For the purpose of subsection (1A)~ any person who is employed by a trade union as a member of its executive under paragraph (a) of the proviso to section 29 (1) shall be deemed to be employed or engaged in the establishment, trade, occupation or industry concerned.

(2) A member of a trade union who has not attained the age of eighteen years shall not be entitled to vote on any of the following matters—

(a) strikes and lock-outs and all matters relating thereto; .

(b) the imposition of a levy;

(c) dissolution of the trade union or of the federation with which it is connected;

(d) amendment of the rules of the trade union where such amendment results in increasing the liability of the members to contribute or in decreasing the benefits to which members are entitled.

(3) Where a trade union of workmen has served a claim for recognition under the Industrial Relations Act 1967, the Director General may, at the request of the Director General for Industrial Relations, carry out a membership check in such manner as may be prescribed by regulations in order to ascertain the percentage of workmen or any class of workmen, ill respect of whom recognition is being sought, who are members of the union making the claim.