Presented by

Gopi GosaiAmit Gurav Sachin Ghulyani

A Presentation on

Methods of Settling Industrial Disputes

Zeel SharmaHitesh Aswani

Presented to :

Prof. Swati Patel

Dt: 07/04/2010

What is an Industrial Dispute?

According to industrial dispute act, 1947, industrial dispute means any dispute or difference between:

-Employers and employers, -Employers and workmen, -Workmen and workmen,

which is connected with the terms and conditions of employment of any person.

Causes of Industrial Disputes:

• Industrial Factors• Management’s attitude

towards the workers• Role of government

machinery • Other causes

Methods of solving Industrial disputes

Without state intervention

With state intervention

Collective bargaining

Voluntaryarbitration

Without conciliation

With conciliation

Compulsory establishment of bipartite committees

Establishment of compulsory collective bargaining

Compulsory Investigation

Compulsory conciliation & mediation

Compulsory arbitration

Collective Bargaining

• It is a procedure by which employers & a group of employees agree upon the conditions of the work.

Steps of Collective Bargaining

• Step1:Presentation of Demands & Grievances

• Step2:Discussions & Negotiations on matters

• Step3:Sucessful Negotiations result in to formal or informal understanding

• Step4:Failure result in to strikes or lockouts.

Labour strike at HaryanaAn eg. - Collective Bargaining

• VIDEO from youtube

Voluntary Arbitration

• Appointment of Neutral persons to settle the Disputes

• Parties may agree in advance to abide by the award of arbitrator or reserve the right to accept or reject the award

• For example- Rohtas workers union & management of Rohtas Industries submitting their disputes to Textile labour association, Ahmedabad.

• Not much sucessful in india as comapred to US & UK

Factors hampering the adoption of Voluntary arbitration in India:

i. Easy availability of adjudication in case of failure of negotiations;

ii. Dearth of suitable arbitrators who command the confidence of both parties;

iii. Absence of recognized union which could bind the workers to common agreements;

iv. Legal obstacles;v. The fact that in law no appeal was competent against an

arbitrator’s award;vi. Absence of a simplified procedure to be followed in

voluntary arbitration.

Compulsory Establishment of Bipartite Committees

• The bipartite committees consist of the representatives of workers and their employer at the plant or industrial level.

• They are given the power to settle differences between the workers and the employers as soon as they appear, and thereby they prevent them from growing into big conflagrations.

Reasons for failure of Work Committee

a) Reluctance & hostility of the employer

b) Illiteracy & Ignorance of the workers

c) Absence of leadership from rank-and-file.

Reasons for formation of Bipartite Committee

a. Giving encouragement to the parties concerned to settle and compose their differences by themselves, to avoid the intervention of third party, and

b. Facilitating the composition of the differences at their embryonic stages without causing work –stoppages.

Establishment of Compulsory Collective Bargaining

• State may encourage, and if necessary, force workers and employers to enter into formal collective bargaining through their representatives.

• The Wagner Act, The Taft-Hartley Act- USA.• In India, refusal to bargain collectively in good faith

by the employer and the recognized union, has been included in the list of unfair labour practices by an amendment of the Industrial Disputes Act in 1982.

Establishment of Compulsory Collective Bargaining

• However, in absence of making recognition of representative union by the employer statutorily compulsory, this provision of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 does not have much significance.

Conciliation and Mediation

a) Voluntary conciliation and mediationb) Compulsory conciliation and mediation

• The only difference between conciliator and mediator is that conciliator is more active and more intervening than the mediator who is said to perform a “go messenger” service.

Voluntary conciliation and mediation:

• The state sets up a conciliation and mediation machinery, consisting of personnel trained in the art of conciliating disputes.

• The aim of the conciliator is to break the deadlock, if any, explain the stand and the view-points of one party to the other, convey messages and generally keep the negotiation going.

• Parties are free to accept or reject them.

Compulsory conciliation and mediation:

• In many countries state goes a step further after creation of conciliation service, it imposes an obligation on the parties to submit their dispute to the conciliation service and makes it a duty of the of the latter to seek to conciliate the dispute.

• The state requires the parties to refrain from causing any work-stoppage, so long as the conciliation proceeding is going on.

• Generally there is a time limit.

Compulsory conciliation and mediation

• There are three main considerations for prohibiting the parties from causing work-stoppage and imposing time limit. They are:

1. Conciliation provides a cooling off period

2. Freedom of the parties to settle their disputes even by causing work stoppage, should not be taken away from them for long period.

3. If conciliation does not achieve an early break-through, it is not very likely to succeed later.

Compulsory conciliation and mediation

• If, at the end of the conciliation proceeding, the parties fail to settle their dispute, they are free to go on a strike or declare a lock-out, but the state may further persuade the parties and use other methods for bringing about a peaceful settlement of the dispute.

Compulsory Investigation

• Many governments have assumed power under laws relating to industrial relations, to set up a machinery to investigate into any dispute.

• A court of Inquiry is appointed by Government.

• Purpose:a) To find out relevant facts &

issues involved & to give them wide publicity

b) To provide cooling off period

Oil PSU’s Strike – Case of cooling off period

• Video from youtube

Compulsory Investigation

• In India, the Court of Inquiry has the same powers as are vested in a civil court under the Code of Civil Procedure in respect of:

a. Enforcing the attendance of any person and examining him on oath;

b. Compelling the production of documents and material objects;

c. Issuing commissions for the examination of witnesses;

d. In respect of matters prescribed under relevant rules.

Compulsory Arbitration or Adjudication

• The government under some conditions may decide to refer the dispute to adjudication and force the parties to abide by the award of the adjudicator and at the same time, prohibit the parties from causing work-stoppages.

• There are two principal forms of compulsory arbitration are:

a) Compulsory reference but voluntary acceptance of the award.

b) Compulsory reference and compulsory acceptance of the award.

Structure of Arbitration Court:

• It may consist of one person only or a few persons with one member acting as the chairman.

• Usually the adjudicators are drawn from the judiciary.

• The qualifications and tenure of office, powers and functions of the adjudicators are, in general, prescribed under the law itself.

• Sometimes, representatives of employers and employees are also associated with the deliberations of the Court.

• The Power of the Courts depend mostly on the objective for which they are set up.

Procedure for Settlement of Industrial Disputes and Authorities under the Act

( a ) Statutory Machinery :• Works Committees (Sec.3)• Conciliation Officer (Sec.4)• Board of Conciliation (Sec.5) • Court of Enquiry (Sec.6)• Voluntary Arbitration

(Sec.10-A)

Adjudication in India

• The Industrial Disputes Act,1947, provides for three types of adjudication authorities for the adjudication of industrial disputes:

A.Labour Court

• Functions1. Legality of an order passed by an employer2. Application & interpretation of standing orders3. Discharge or dismissal of workman4. Illegality or otherwise of a strike or lock out

B) Industrial Tribunal1. All matters concern with labour courts2. Wages3. Compensatory & other allowances4. Hours of work & rest inetrvals5. Leave with wages & holidays6. Bonus, provident fund & Gratuity7. Shift working8. Classification of grades9. Rule of discipline10.Retrenchment & closure of establishment

C) National Tribunal

Procedure for Settlement of Industrial Disputes and Authorities under the Act

• Grievance Settlement Authority (Sec.9-C)

• Welfare Officer• Standing Orders • Central and State Industrial

Relations • Machinery

1) Industrial Disputes & enforcement

2) Verification3) Fixation of minimum wages4) Central implementation &

evaluation machinery

Other Preventive Measures

• Sec 9A change in conditions of service

• Defining unfair labour Practices as per Section 2(ra) of IDACT 1947

• Various provisions of laws related to lay off- retrenchment and closure, lock-out & strikes

( b ) Voluntary Machinery• Code of Discipline, 1958

– It contains matters where:• Labour and managements agree• Managements agree• Unions agree• Arbitration procedure under code of discipline• Model grievance procedure laid• Criteria for recognition of unions and rights of recognized union

• Tripartite Bodies• Indian labour conference• Standing labour committee• Industrial committee• Tripartite committee on International Labour Organization

Conventions , 1954

( b ) Voluntary Machinery

• Formation of Permanent Negotiating Machinery• For Railways and postal telegraphs, 1951• Machinery is 3 Tier

• Formation of Joint Consultative Machinery for Central Government (JCM).

• Collective Bargaining to be Encouraged• Workers’ Participation in Management Scheme

to be Introduced through Formation of Shop Councils and Plant Council

PenaltiesParameter Section Penality

For Illegal Strikes and Lockouts:

Sec 24

Sec 26 (1)

Sec 26 (2)

StrikeImprisonment (1 month) or Fine – Rs. 50Or bothLockoutImprisonment (1 month) or Fine – Rs. 1000Or both

Retrenchment and lay-off without previous permission

Sec 25Q Imprisonment (1 month) or Fine – Rs. 1000Or both

Breach of settlement or award

Sec 29 Imprisonment upto 6 months or with fine or with both

Unfair labour practice: Sec 25U Imprisonment upto 6 months or with fine upto Rs.1,000 or with both.

Questions