The Principal Act is amended by the insertion of the following section after section 2:

"2A. Section 2: supplemental matters relating to number of members of trade union employed by employer

(1) For the purposes of subsection (3) of section 2 in respect of establishing the number of workers who are party to the trade dispute, a statutory declaration made by the chief officer of the trade union which made the request under subsection (1) of section 2, specifying -

(a) the number of the members of that trade union who are in the employment of the employer concerned in the grade, group or category to which the trade dispute refers and who are party to the trade dispute, and

(b) the period of membership of such members in that trade union,

shall be admissible in evidence without further proof, unless the contrary is shown, of such numbers and such period.

(2) Where an employer seeks to have the matters specified in a statutory declaration made pursuant to subsection (1) examined -

(a) the employer may request the Court to satisfy itself that the matters specified in the statutory declaration are correct, and

(b) the Court may, for the purposes of paragraph (a), examine the number of members of the trade union, specified in the statutory declaration as being in the employment of the employer concerned -

(i) in the grade, group or category to which the trade dispute refers, and