UNIT -5

Industrial Disputes

Q1) What are Industrial Disputes? Give the causes.

Industrial Disputes

Disputes mainly relate to the strife between employers and their employees.

According to the Industrial Dispute Act,1947 sec (2(k)),Industrial disputes mean any dispute or difference between employers and employers, or between employers and workmen, or between workmen and workmen, which is

Connected with the employment or non-employment or terms of employment or with the conditions of labour of any person.

Causes of industrial Disputes

Causes of Industrial disputes may be grouped into

Four categories :

(A) Industrial Factors

(B) Managements Attitude towards workers

(C) Government Machinery ; and

(D) Other Causes

(A)Industrial Factors :

Under this category, some of the causes of dispute may be :

1. An industrial matter relating to employment, work, wages, hours of work, privileges, the rights and obligations of employees and employers, terms

And conditions of employment including matters pertaining to :

a)     dismissal or non-employment of any person

b)    Registered agreement , settlement or award : and

c)     demarcation (establishing limits) of the functions of an employee

2. An industrial matter in which both the parties are directly and substantially interested and disputes arising out of unemployment, inflation, change in the attitude.

(B) Management Attitude Towards Labour :

a)     Management’s unwillingness to talk over any dispute with their employees.

b)    Managements unwillingness to recognize a particular trade union , delegating enough authority to the representatives etc.

c)     unwillingness to negotiation and settlement of disputes.

d)    Managements insistence to take care of recruitments, promotion etc without consulting the concerned employees

e)     Managements unwillingness to provide services and benefits to its employees.

(C) Government Machinery :

a)     Though there are number of enactments for promotion of harmonious relations, it is ineffective and unsatisfactory due to various reasons like their irrelevancy in the context of the challenges of present industrial climate/culture, incapability of understanding and answering imperatives of development, improper and inadequate implementation by many employers.

b)    The governments conciliation machinery has settled a very negligible number of disputes .

(IV) Other Causes :

a)     Affiliation of the trade unions with a political party, where the latter may instigate the trade unions to conduct strikes, lockouts , gheraos etc.

b)    Political instability, centre- state relations, sometimes result into industrial conflict.

c)     Other potential factors like corruption in industry and public life, easy money, etc can also result into industrial disputes.             

Q2) What are the types of industrial disputes?

Industrial disputes are basically of two types ,i.e., Strikes and Lockouts.

Strikes :

Strikes are a result of more fundamental maladjustments, injustices and economic

Disturbances. Strike is a temporary cessation of work by a group of employees in order to express grievances or to enforce a demand concerning changes in work

Conditions.

Strikes are divided into three types .They are Primary strikes, secondary strikes and other strikes.

I. Primary strikes are generally against the employer with whom the dispute exists. They are :

• Stay Away Strikes: In this strike workmen stay away from the workplace. They organize rallies, demonstrations, etc.
• Stay-in or sit-Down Strikes : In this strike, workmen come to the place , they stay at the workplace, but they don‘t work.
• Tools Down, Pen Down Strike : Here the strikers lay down their tools in case of factory workers , office workers lay down their pens.
• Token or Protest Strikes : It is of very short duration and is in nature of signal for the danger ahead. In this strike workers do not work for an hour or a day.
• Lightening or Wild cat strike : In this strike, the strike is done without any prior notice or with a shortest notice.
• Go –Slow : In this strike, the workers intentionally reduce the speed of work.
• Work to rule : In this strike, the strikers undertake the work according to rules or job description.
• Picketing : It is an act of protesting by the workmen in front of the premises of the employer.
• Boycott: It aims at disrupting the normal functioning of the enterprise.
• Gherao : It is a physical blockade of a target either by encirclement, intended to block from and to a particular office, workshop etc.
• Hunger Strike : This type of strike is resorted to either by the leaders of the union or by some workers all at a time for a limited period or up to the period of settlement of disputes.

II Secondary Strike : Secondary strikes are against a third party. These strikes are sympathetic strikes.

III. Other Strikes : These strikes are in the form of general, particular, political and bandhs.

• Lockouts: Lockout means the closing of a place of business of

Employment or the suspension of work, or the refusal by the employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him. However, termination of employment or retrenchment, and prohibiting an employee are not lockouts.

Q3) Who is a Labour Welfare Officer and what is his function?

Labour Welfare Officer : Section 49 (1) and (2) of the Factories Act, 1948 specifies that every factory wherein 500 or more workers are ordinarily employed at least one welfare Officer must be appointed, where the number ofworkers are in excess of 2500,the assistant and / or additional welfare officers are required to be appointed toassist the Welfare Officer.

The functions of Labour Welfare Officer include :

(I) Labour Welfare Functions :Advice and assistance in

Implementing legislative and non-legislative provisions

Relating to :

• Health &Safety
• Working conditions
• Sanitation & Cleanliness
• Recreation
• Welfare Amenities
• Workers Education
• Services like Co-operative grain shops, housing cooperatives.
• Formation of welfare committees.
  • Housing
• Implementation of welfare Acts.

(II) Labour Administration Functions :These may cover:

• Organizational Discipline
• Safety & Medical administration
• Wage& salary administration
• Administration of Legislation covering Industrial Relations

(III) Labour Relations Functions: These may consist of :

• Administration of standing orders.
• Settlement of Grievances.
• Settlement of Disputes through statutory procedures.
• Trade unions& union management relations
• Steps to increase productivity efficiency.

Q4) What are tripartite and bipartite bodies? What are their functions?

Industrial relations in India have been shaped largely by the policies and practices of Tripartite and Bipartite bodies.

The purpose of consultative machinery is to bring the partners together for mutual settlement of differences in spirit of cooperation and goodwill.

Bipartite consultative machinery comprises two parties i.e., employees and employer, the important bipartite body is works committees.

Works Committee : Works committees greatly contribute in prevention of industrial disputes. It is represented by an equal number of representatives of

Each party and the method of their appointment are also laid down in agreements or enactments.

Bipartite Bodies:

With the beginning of industrialization of India, labor relations in Indian industries have also been largely influenced by Indian democracy. Groups like Works Committee and Management Council were established to democratize Indian industrial relations. The bipartite consultation machinery was established around 1920, during the time when a few joint committees were setup by the Government of India. These joint committees were also introduced in TISCO in Jamshedpur.

Bipartite consultative machinery comprises two parties i.e., employees and employer, the important bipartite body is works committees.

Tripartite Bodies:

The principals and policies of the tripartite body have been a machinery of consultancy at the industrial and national levels. The tripartite body was established to make peace and improve relations between management and unions, and maintain smooth functioning of union management relations. It began as a statutory organization by the recommendation of the Whitey Commission to the ILO in 1931. The tripartite body had to be sufficiently large to ensure sufficient representation of the various interests involved; encourage representatives of employers, labor and government to meet regularly; and disallow individual members from making individual contributions to meetings.

Objectives and Functions :

(a)To promote industrial goodwill.

(b)To secure cooperation from employers and employees.

(c)To ensure the cooperation of private concerns.

(d)To provide for a popular agency for supervising the management of nationalized undertakings.

For the successful working of the works committee, the employers are required to abstain from doing anything that is likely to hamper various facilities to workers. The Trade unions on the committees also have to abstain

From doing things that upset the operations of the undertaking.

Q5)Define the following:

• Standing Orders
• Grievance Procedure
• Collective Bargaining

Standing Orders :Majority of the industrial disputes are related to conditions of

Employment. To prevent this, Standing orders are formulated. It was made obligatory that standing orders should govern the conditions of employment under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders ) Act of 1946. The Standing

Orders regulate the conditions of employment from the stage of entry to the stage of exit.

Grievance Procedure : Grievance generally arise from day – to- day working relations. Grievances of the employees are readdressed by the management.

Management can prevent the occurrence of industrial disputes by solving the individual problems.

Collective Bargaining :Collective bargaining helps for settlement of issues and prevention of industrial disputes. It occurs when representatives of a labour union meet management

Representatives to determine employees’ wages and benefits, to create or revise work rules and to resolve disputes or violations of the labour contract.

Q6) What are the different process of settlement of disputes? Explain any one in detail.

Whatever may be the cause of industrial disputes, the consequences are harmful to all stakeholder’s management, employees, economy and the society . For

Management, disputes result in loss of production, revenue, profit, and even sickness of the plant.

Employees would be hard hit as the disputes may lead to lockouts and consequent loss of wages and even jobs. Various methods are available for resolving disputes.

Most important of them are :

Grievance Procedure : This is another method of resolving disputes.

Grievance is any discontent or dissatisfaction, arising out of employment relationship, which an employee thinks , believes or feels to be unfair, unjust or inequitable.

A grievance procedure is a formal process which is preliminary to arbitration, which enables the parties involved to attempt to resolve their differences in a peaceful and orderly manner.

It enables the company and the trade union to investigate and discuss the problem at issue without in any way interrupting the peaceful conduct of business. When the grievance redressal machinery works effectively, it

satisfactorily resolve most of the disputes between labour and management.

  NS- Not satisfied

Q7) What is Arbitration and Adjudication?

Arbitration :

Arbitration is a procedure in which a neutral third-party studies the bargaining situation, listens to both the parties, gathers information and then

Makes recommendations that are binding on both the parties.

Arbitration is effective means of resolving disputes because it is :

1. Established by the parties themselves and the decision is acceptable to them.

2. Relatively expeditious when compared to courts and tribunals.

Process of Arbitration :

1) The labour union generally takes initiative to go for arbitration. When the union decides, it notifies the management.

2) The union & the management select the potential arbitrator by carefully studying the previous decisions given by the particular arbitrator, to detect any biases.

3) After the arbitrator is selected, the time & place for hearing will be determined, the issue to be resolved will be presented to the arbitrator in a document that summarizes the questions to be decided, any contracts

Restrictions that prohibit the arbitrator from making an award that would change the terms of existing contract.

4) Each side represents its case at the hearing.

5) Each party has to submit formal written statements.

Steps:

1) Witness , cross-examination, transcripts & legal counsel may be used.

2) After hearing, the arbitrator studies the materials submitted and reaches the decision within 30 – 60 days.

3) The decision given usually is a written opinion mentioning the reasons.

4) The report is submitted by the arbitrator to the appropriate government

Adjudication :

Adjudication means a mandatory settlement of an industrial dispute by a labour court or a tribunal. Generally, the government a dispute for adjudication depending on the failure of conciliation proceedings. Section 10 of the Industrial Act, 1947, provides for reference of a dispute to labour court or tribunal.

Disputes are generally referred to adjudication on the recommendation of the conciliation officer who had dealt with them earlier. The government has a discretionary powers to accept or reject recommendations of the conciliation officer. It is obvious that once is referred for adjudication , the verdict of a labour court or tribunal is binding on both the parties.

This is the most significant instrument of resolving disputes. But, it has been criticised because of the delay involved in resolving conflicts.

Q8) What are strikes? What are the ingredients of strike?

Strike is one of the oldest and the most effective weapons of labour in its struggle with capital for securing economic justice.

Strike has been defined in Section 2 (q) of the Industrial Disputes Act as under—“Strike means a cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry acting in combination, or a concerted refusal, or a refusal under a common understanding, of any number of persons who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept employment.”

The following are essential requirements for the existence of a strike:

(1) There must be cessation of work.

(2) The cessation of work must be by a body of persons employed in any industry

(3) The strikers must have been acting in combination

(4) The strikers must be working in any establishment which can be called industry within the meaning of Section 2(j); or

(5) There must be a concerted refusal; or

(6) Refusal under a common understanding of any number of persons who are or have been so employed to continue to work or to accept employment.

(7) They must stop work for some demands relating to employment, non-employment or the terms of employment or the conditions of labor of the workmen.

Ingredients of Strike

Cessation of Work:-

This is most significant characteristic of the concept of strike. It has been variedly expressed as ‘stoppage‘, ‗omission of performance of duties suspension of work, refusing or failing to return to or resume employment . Thus, what required for strike is that there must be stoppage of work or there must be refusal to continue to work. Refusal must be concerted or under a common understanding.

1. The cessation of work may take any form. It must, however, be temporary and not for ever and it must be voluntary.

2. No duration can be fixed for this. Permanent cessation of work would result in termination of the contract of work. Cessation of work is not a cessation of contract of employment.

Concerted action

Another important ingredient of the strike is a concerted action. The workers must act under a common understanding.

The cessation of work by a body of persons employed in any industry in combination is a strike. Thus, in a strike it must be proved that there was cessation of work or stoppage of work under a common understanding or it was a concerted action of the workers or there was cessation of work by workers acting in combination.

Q9) What are Lockouts?

Section 2(1) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 defines―Lock-out as the closing of a place of business of employment or the suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him.

It is declared by employers to put pressure on their workers. It is counterpart of a strike. Lockout may happen for several reasons. When only part of a trade union votes to strike, the purpose of a lockout is to put pressure on a union by reducing the number of members who are able to work.

Every employer has the option to lockout workers, if –

1) a dispute has been referred to a council or the Commission for

Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA); a certificate that a dispute remains unresolved has been issued 30 days have elapsed since the referral and

II ) 48 hours‘ written notice of a strike is given to

a. The employer; or

b. a council (if the dispute relates to a collective agreement to be concluded in a council); or

c. To an employers‘ organisation (if the employer is a member of an

Organisation that is a party to the dispute); or

III) 48 hours‘ written notice of a lockout is given to

a. The trade union; or

b. To the workers (if they are not trade union members); or

c. a council (if the dispute relates to a collective agreement to be concluded in a

Council)

During legal lockouts, employers may –

• Not have civil legal proceedings brought against them during legal lockouts; and
• Recover the monetary value of payment in kind through civil proceedings in the Labour Court after legal lockouts.

Q10) What are the participative schemes in India?

 The introduction of works committees through the Industrial Disputes Act in 1947 was hailed by many as an encouraging measure for participation. The works committee was envisaged as an industrial relations (IR) tool to resolve or reduce differences between managements and labour.

 The National Commission on Labour, 1969, recommended that the recognized union be given the right to nominate worker representatives to the works committee.

 In 1956, the government suggested at the annual labour conference that a delegation should go to Europe and study how the system worked in countries where many of the joint bodies were still active. The delegation reported back to the conference and proposed that JMCs be set up in all establishments

Employing 500 or more workers. The conference adopted this recommendation as a resolution in 1958.

 After the JMC experience, the Government decided to make a fresh attempt at participation in public sector units (PSUs) at least. It announced in 1971 a scheme for worker directors on PSU boards. One worker director was made mandatory for each PSU, the representative being a nominee of the recognized union.

In 1975, one of the populist measures adopted by the Government was a 20-point programme, and workers’ participation was one of the points. A new scheme of shop councils and joint councils was formulated in October that year.

 When the Janata Party came to power in 1977, it appointed a committee under Labour Minister Ravindra Verma to investigate statutory imposition of participation. The Verma Committee in 1978 duly recommended a statute on participation.

 The final step in the rather prolonged introduction of participation was taken in 1990, when the new Government drafted a Participation of Workers in Management Bill and circulated it among chambers of commerce and major unions for comments. The annual labour conference that year had an almost single point agenda – statutory participation.