Settlement of Industrial Dispute

Settlement of Industrial Disputes:

Whatever may be the cause of industrial disputes, the consequences are harmful to all stakeholders- 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:

 

Figure 2    RESOLVING INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE

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. 

 The bargaining is collective in the sense that the chosen representative of the employees (i.e. union) acts as a bargaining agent for all the employees in carrying out negotiations and dealings with the management.  On the employer side, it is collective in those common situations in which the companies have joined together in an employer association for the purposes of bargaining with a union.

Collective bargaining has been viewed as a process of social change, as a peace treaty between the conflicting parties and as a system of industrial jurisprudence.(i.e it is a method of introducing civil rights into the industry ).

The process of collective bargaining involves six major steps:

Code of Discipline: 

The code of discipline defines duties and responsibilities of employers and workers. The objectives of the code are:

1.      To ensure that employers and employees recognize each other’s rights and obligations.

2.      To promote consecutive co-operation between parties concerned at all levels.

3.      To eliminate all forms of coercion, intimidation and violence in IR.

4.      To avoid work stoppages.

5.      To facilitate the growth of trade unions.

6.      To maintain discipline in the industry.

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 resolves most of the disputes between Labour and management.

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 established by the parties themselves and the decision is acceptable to them. This method is fast and less expensive 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)      Witness, cross-examination, transcripts & legal counsel may be used.

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

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

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

Conciliation:

Conciliation is a process by which the representatives of workers and employers are brought together before a third party with a view to persuading them to arrive at an agreement by mutual discussion between them. The third party may be an individual or a group of people. The third party may also be called as mediators.

The ID Act, 1947and other state enactments authorize the governments to appoint conciliators charged with duty of mediating in and promoting the settlement of industrial disputes.

 In Conciliations, the ultimate decision rests with the parties themselves but the conciliator may offer a solution to the dispute acceptable to both the parties and serve as a channel communication. The parties may accept his recommendation or reject it. If the conciliation fails, the next stage may be compulsory adjudication or the parties may be left with their own choice. In cases where a settlement is arrived at, they can record the settlement and in case of failure of the conciliatory negotiations, they can send a failure report to the appropriate government.

Adjudication:

  Adjudication means a mandatory settlement of an industrial dispute by a Labour court or a tribunal. Generally, the government refers 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 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 criticized because of the delay involved in resolving conflicts.

Consultative Machinery:

   Consultative machinery is set by the government to resolve conflicts. The main function is to bring the parties together for mutual settlement of differences in the spirit of co-operation and goodwill. Consultative machinery operates at plant, industry, state and national levels. At plant level, there are works committee and joint management councils. Being bipartite in character, works committee are constituted as per the provisions of industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and joint management councils are set up following the trust laid  down in the Industrial Policy  Resolution,1956. At the industry level, there are wage boards and industrial committee.   Labour advisory boards operate at the state and at the all India level there are Indian Labour conference and the Standing Labour committee. The bodies operating at state and national level are tripartite in character, representing government, Labour and management.

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