(a) The term “department” shall mean the Department of Labor and Industry.

(b) The term “employer” includes an employer and any person acting, directly or indirectly, on behalf of or in the interest of an employer with the employer's knowledge or ratification, but a labor organization, or any officer or agent thereof, shall be considered an employer only with respect to individuals employed by such organization.

(c) The term “employe” shall include any employe, and shall not be limited to the employes of a particular employer, unless the act explicitly states otherwise, and shall include any individual whose work has ceased as a consequence of or in connection with any current labor dispute, or because of any unfair labor practice as provided in the act of 1937, entitled “Pennsylvania Labor Relations Act.”¹ This term, however, shall not include any individual taking the place of any employe whose work has ceased as aforesaid, nor shall it include any individual employed by his parent or spouse, or in the domestic service of any person in the home of the employer.

(d) The term “representatives” is not limited to individuals, but shall include labor organizations, and individual representatives need not themselves be employed by, and a labor organization serving as a representative need not be limited in membership to employes of the employer whose employes are represented.