Industrial Relations free essay sample

To establish a proper channel of communication. 5. To increase the morale and discipline of the employees. 6. To safeguard the interests of the labour as well as management by securing the highest level of mutual understanding and goodwill between all sections in an industry. 7. To avoid all forms of industrial conflicts so as to ensure industrial peace by providing better living and working standards for the workers. 8. To bring about government control over such industrial units which are running at a loss for protecting the livelihood of the employees. Importance of Industrial Relations: 1. Uninterrupted Production: The most important benefit of industrial benefits is that it ensures continuity of production. This means continuous employment for all involved right from managers to workers. There is uninterrupted flow of income for all. Smooth running of industries is important for manufacturers, if their products are perishable goods and to consumers if the goods are for mass consumption (essential commodities, food grains etc. We will write a custom essay sample on Industrial Relations or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page ). Good industrial relations bring industrial peace which in turn tends to increase production. 2. Reduction in Industrial disputes: Good Industrial relations reduce Industrial disputes. Strikes, grievances and lockouts are some of the reflections of Industrial unrest. Industrial peace helps in promoting co-operation and increasing production. Thus good Industrial relations help in establishing Industrial democracy, discipline and a conducive workplace environment. 3. High morale: Good Industrial relations improve the morale of the employees and motivate the worker workers to work more and better. 4. Reduced wastage: Good Industrial relations are maintained on the basis of co-operation and recognition of ach other. It helps to reduce wastage of material, manpower and costs. 5. Contributes to economic growth and development. Causes of poor Industrial Relations: 1. Economic causes: Often poor wages and poor working conditions are the main causes for unhealthy relations between management and labour. Unauthorised deductions from wages, lack of fringe benefits, absence of promotion op portunities, faulty incentive schemes are other economic causes. Other causes for Industrial conflicts are inadequate infrastructure, worn-out plant and machinery, poor layout, unsatisfactory maintenance etc. . Organisational causes: Faulty communications system, unfair practices, non-recognition of trade unions and labour laws are also some other causes of poor relations in industry. 3. Social causes: Uninteresting nature of work is the main social cause of poor Industrial relations. Dissatisfaction with job and personal life culminates into Industrial conflicts. 4. Psychological causes: Lack of job security, non-recognition of merit and performance, poor interpersonal relations are the psychological reasons for unsatisfactory employer-employee relations. 5. Political causes: Multiple unions, inter-union rivalry weaken the trade unions. Defective trade unions system prevailing in the country has been one of the most responsible causes for Industrial disputes in the country. Suggestions to improve Industrial Relations: 1. Sound personnel policies: Policies and procedures concerning the compensation, transfer and promotion, etc. of employees should be fair and transparent. All policies and rules relating to Industrial relations should be fair and transparent to everybody in the enterprise and to the union leaders. 2. Participative management: Employees should associate workers and unions in the formulation and implementation of HR policies and practices. 3. Responsible unions: A strong trade union is an asset to the employer. Trade unions should adopt a responsible rather than political approach to industrial relations. 4. Employee welfare: Employers should recognise the need for the welfare of workers. They must ensure reasonable wages, satisfactory working conditions, and other necessary facilities for labour. Management should have a genuine concern for the welfare and betterment of the working class. 5. Grievance procedure: A well-established and properly administered system committed to the timely and satisfactory redressal of employee’s grievances can be very helpful in improving Industrial relations. A suggestion scheme will help to satisfy the creative urge of the workers. 6. Constructive attitude: Both management and trade unions should adopt positive attitude towards each other. Management must recognise unions as the spokesmen of the workers’ grievances and as custodians of their interests. The employer should accept workers as equal partners in a joint endeavour for good Industrial relations. . Creating a proper communication channel to avoid grievances and misunderstandings among employees 8. Education and training imparted to the employees What are Industrial Relations? The concept of Industrial relations has been defined using various terminologies, but in the strictest sense, it is essentially the relationship between management and labor. The full concept of industrial relations is the organization and practice of multi-pronged relationships between labor and management, unions and labor, unions and management in an industry. Dale Yoder defines it as a whole field of relationships that exists because of the necessary collaboration of men and women in the employment process of an industry. Role of Industrial Relations: Industrial relations are associated with labor, management, labor unions, and the state. The scene of industrial relations has grown tremendously, and cannot be represented merely by relations between management and labor. It has become a comprehensive and total concept embracing the sum total of relationship that exists at various levels of the organizational structure. Additionally, it connotes relationships between workers themselves within the labor class, and relations among the management within the managerial class. In an open sense, industrial relations denote all types of relations within a group and outside a group both formal and informal relations. Objectives of Industrial Relations: 1. Protect management and labor interests by securing mutual relations between the two groups. 2. Avoid disputes between management and labor, and create a harmonizing relationship between the groups so productivity can be increased. . Ensure full employment and reduce absenteeism, hence, increasing productivity and profits. 4. Emphasize labor employer partnership to establish and maintain industrial democracy. This is done to ensure the sharing of profit gains, and personal developmental of all all employees. 5. Provide better wages and living conditions to labor, so misunderstandings between management and labor are reduced to a minimum. 6. To bring about government control over plants where losses are running high, or where products are produced in the public interest. 7. To bridge a gap between various public factions and reshape the complex social relationships emerging out of technological advances by controlling and disciplining members, and adjusting their conflicts of interests. Conceptual Model for understanding Industrial Relations Conceptual Model of Industrial Relations Role of State Intervention: State intervention in business is necessary in a developing country because of the following reasons: 1. Developing countries lack powerful labor unions, enabling organizations to exploit workers and even ignore their demands. This is why governments have to step in and play a role in delineating certain parameters of industrial relations. 2. When the conditions of laborers worsen, and/or disputations arise, the government cannot be a silent bystander. It has to intervene in the situation and try to satisfy both sides by being a preceptor or an intermediary, and establish peace. 3. The federal nature of the constitution has made it imperative for the state to intervene in matters of labor to ensure a smooth and continuous operation. The state and the central governments have established certain laws that have to be followed by businesses. These are: the Plantations Act of 1952, the Minimum Wages Act of 1948, the Industrial Disputes Act, the Payment of Bonus Act of 1965, the Contract Labor Act of 1970, the Payment of Gratuity Act of 1972, the Bonded Labor System Act and the Remuneration Act of 1978. 4. The Directive Principals of the Constitution enjoin upon the state to establish a welfare state and to look after the interests of the weaker sections of the society, for example, the physically disabled. Definition of Mediation and Conciliation Mediation Mediation is the concept of making peace between aggravated parties. It is an ancient practice, and is carried out by a peace-maker. Mediation comes into play when two or more parties come together to discuss their differences and settle their differences. Mediation has been used among people, nations, litigants, labor and government, etc. A mediator, who is an outsider, may be present for settlement of disputes. The mediators role is to assist the parties in their negotiations. Conciliation Conciliation is generally the process of encouraging the aggravated parties to come together for mediation. In industrial relations however, the distinctions between the terms mediation and conciliation are negligible, and this trend also applies to other countries. Therefore, conciliation may be defined as the services of a third party that are used in a dispute as a means of helping the disputing parties to reduce the extent of their differences and to arrive at a settlement or mutually agreed solution. Conciliation tends to bring a speedy solution to industrial disagreements, hence, avoiding unnecessary strikes and lock-outs. Role of a conciliator: A conciliators function is to define a series of steps toward settlement of differences between the parties seeking reconciliation. A conciliator may open a series of options, attitudes, and offer alternative possibilities of settlement. The roles of a conciliator are summarized below: a. Discussion Leader A conciliator encourages a clear and friendly communication, creates a safe environment, and discourages any bias or antagonism between the parties. . Safety Valve A conciliator may be placed between the aggravated parties and may take on collateral damage without damaging the atmosphere of conciliatory meetings. c. Communication link A conciliator may serve as an important communication link between the aggravated parties. d. An innovator A conciliator may offer new suggestions and priorities, and provide the parties different views t o the solution. e. A sounding board A conciliator may step in between any heated arguments taking place during the conciliatory process. f. Protector A conciliator may be a protector of the parties while preparing the parties for a collective bargaining position during separate meetings. h. A stimulator A conciliator may motivate the parties to a peaceful solution by supporting good arguments from opposing sides. i. An advisor A conciliator ensures that misunderstandings dont occur between the parties, and that room is open only to responsible discussions. j. A face saver A conciliator may get the defeated party a form of accommodating settlement, which, in reality, holds on real value. This is done in order to mask the loss of face or prestige of the losing party. k. Promoter of collective bargaining A conciliator promotes collective bargaining and development of a mutual understanding between the parties. Tripartite Bipartite Bodies, and Industrial Settlement 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. Purpose of Tripartite Body: a. Bring the aggravated parties together for mutual settlement of differences, and encourage a spirit of cooperation and goodwill. b. Promote uniformity in labor laws and legislation. . Discuss all matters of All India importance as between employers and employees. d. Determine a plan for settlement for all disputes. 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 rela tions. 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. Fundamentals of Industrial Settlement: 1. Both parties have to realize that the country is breaking away from the past, and this is going to put continuous pressure on the quality of man-power and demands from human resources. 2. Both parties have to realize that to run a successful and profitable business, team work is extremely important. This gives rise to timely response and supply of goods to the society. 3. Both the parties accept the charters of Human Resources Policy summarized below: a. Individuals must make every effort to improve their job skills through training and participating in developmental activities. b. Each employee must keep his/her job skills up-to-date with changing business practices and operations. c. Machineries should be used throughout the year with trained staff readily available to operate it. d. Indirect employees may be converted to direct employees for increasing business efficiency. e. Absenteeism and unnecessary delays must be reduced through planning. f. Short-term employment must be avoided. Long-term employment should be encouraged and highly trained employees must be hired. . The above steps must be utilized to increase company productivity; exploitation of employees must be disallowed. h. High emphasis must be placed upon the quality of work. The Zero Defect policy must be always followed. i. Employees must make a stand to follow the Human Resources Policy individually or collectively. j. Both the parties should closely and routinely monitor change in productivity, and take necessary steps to avoid undesirable consequences. Types of Industrial Strikes Types of Strikes: Hunger strike: Workers gather near the factory owners residence and refuse to eat. Pen down: Workers come to work on regular hours but refuse to do any work. Rule strike: This type of strike is done by strictly abiding by company rules to the extreme, and there is no space for flexibility. Support strike: Supporting workers from another factory also go on strike to support their fellow workers from a related factory. Gate strike: Workers gather near the company gates and launch a strike. Production strike: Workers produce more industrial items but now in harmony. Go-slow: Workers work their usual hours but their productivity is greatly reduced. They deliberately work slower than usual, causing heavy losses and production delays. Picketing and boycott: This is the act of surrounding and picketing the owners residence, and not allowing anyone to enter the premises. Violent picketing is illegal. Boycott is disturbing the normal functioning of the business. Gherao: This is the process of blocking a target by encircling it. This may prevent people from approaching the target. The target may be an office, a building entrance, factory, residence, etc. Gherao may involve assault and torture, and gheraos are illegal. Sympathetic strike: This is an illegal strike done by workmen, who are fully satisfied by their employment, but support the cause of their fellow unsatisfied workmen. Lockouts: This is the process of closing down a place of business due to refusal to work by the employees. Lockouts are different from strikes because lockouts are initiated by the management/employer. Lockouts are: 1. Closure of industrial undertaking due to violence, disputes, etc. 2. Suspension of employment relationship. 3. Lockouts are initiated by the employer, and strikes are initiated by the employees. . Lockouts have definite motive. Lockouts Economy: Lockouts damage industry and national economy. Parameters Classification of Industrial Disputes What is an Industrial Dispute? For a dispute to become an industrial dispute, the following parameters have to be met: 1. The dispute must be between: a. Employers and employers. b. Employers and labor. c. Labor and labor. 2. It should be in relation to employment, no n-employment, terms of employment, with the conditions of labor (except managers and supervisors), or must pertain to any industrial matter. . The workman shouldnt have an income over Rs 1600 per month. 4. There should be a valid and contractual relation between the employer and the employee. Furthermore, the employee must be employee at the time of the dispute. Classifications of Disputes: 1. Conflict of Interest: These conflicts arise due to disagreements in level of income, fringe benefits, job security, and/or other terms and conditions of employment. Dispute can be resolved on conciliation by compromising. 2. Grievance or Rights Disputes: Also known as conflict of rights disputes, they occur due to general disagreements like: discipline, dismissal, payment of wages, overtime, time off entitlements, demotion, transfer, etc. Dispute can be resolved in labor courts and tribunals. 3. Disputes involving unfair labor practices: This type of dispute occurs when Trade union members face discrimination. Unfair labor practices include: interference, restraint or coercion of employees, refusal to collective bargaining, recruitment of workmen during legal strikes, failure to implement awards, acts of violence, etc. Resolution occurs by rules laid down by the MRTU PULP Act in the state of Maharashtra, or following the rules of the Industrial Dispute Act. What is the Indian Industrial Dispute Act of 1947? The Industrial Dispute Act of 1947 has been described as the latest milestone in the industrial development in India. The Act has seen new additions in the past few years. However, the principal objectives of the Industrial Dispute Act of 1947 are: Objectives of Indian Industrial Dispute Act: 1. To encourage good relations between labor and industries, and provide a medium of settling disputes through adjudicator authorities. . To provide a committee for dispute settlement between industry and labor with the right of representation by a registered trade union or by an association of employers. 3. Prevent unauthorized strikes and lockouts. 4. Reach out to labor that has been laid-off, unrightfully dismissed, etc. 5. Provide labor the right to collective bargaining and promote conciliation. New I ndian Industrial Dispute Act Principles: 1. A permanent conciliation committee for the speedy settlement of industrial disputes. 2. Compulsory arbitration in public utility services and enforcement of arbitration awards. . Strikes during proceedings of conciliation and arbitration meetings are prohibited. 4. Set aside specific times for conciliation and arbitration meetings. 5. Employers have to be obliged to communicate with labor unions. 6. Mutual consultation has to be set up between industry and labor by the Works Committee. 7. Disputes between labor and industry have to be forwarded to an Industrial Tribunal. If the Industrial tribunal fails to handle the case, the case should be forwarded to the appropriate government. Authorities under Indian Industrial Dispute Act: . Works committee. 2. Conciliation officer. 3. Boards of conciliation. 4. Courts of inquiry. 5. Labor courts. 6. Industrial tribunals. 7. National tribunals. causes of Industrial Dispute: Disputes may result from various causes: psychological, potential, and economic. The most common cause of strikes has been economic reasons; other reasons have been influenced by nationalist, communist, and commercial ends. The Labor Bureau of Simla has observed causes such as: wages and allowances, bonus, personnel, vacation and work timings, violence (added in 1971), etc. An analysis has revealed the following facts: During 1921-1931: †¢ 15. 2% of demands were related to wages. †¢ 4. 6% of demands were related to bonus. †¢ 4. 4% of demands were related to vacation days and work-timings. †¢ 18. 5% of demands were related to others. During 1939-1947: †¢ 44. 1% of demands were related to wages. †¢ 7. 9% of demands were related to bonus. †¢ 15. 6% of demands were related to personal matters. †¢ 5% of demands were related to vacation and work-timings. During 1948-1957: †¢ 28. 1% of demands were related to wages. †¢ 9. 1% of demands were related to bonus. †¢ 30. % of demands were related to personal matters. †¢ 7. 2% of demands were related to vacation days and work-timings. Industrial Disputes According to V. B. Singh: Mr. V. B. Singh defines industrial disputes falling under these categories: 1. Income (wage items, price rates, allowances, bonus, minimum and basic wages, etc. ) 2. Employment (hol idays, leaves like sick leave, etc. , work-timings, welfare activities, etc. ), and 3. Technological changes (workload, standardization of raw materials, etc. ). What is Industrial Peace? Industrial peace has, at a certain extent, worsened in the past few years. The social gap between management and labor has increased, resulting in increased disparities and frustration. Industrial peace has to be developed with mutually understanding the issues of labor, and it is imperative to have proper communication between management and labor union. Three ways to establish industrial have been suggested by the Royal Commission on Labor: 1. Appoint a labor officer who ensures labor welfare and serves as a representative to management. 2. Constitution of Works Communities for different industries, and 3. Development of stable and responsible trade unions.