EMERGING TRENDS IN IR
Aniket Pandey
BBA(LLB) Corparate laws
University of Petroleum Studies
Dehradun
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
”Industrial Relation is a relation between
employer and employees, employees and
employees and employees and trade
unions”. –Industrial disputes act 1947
The Industrial Relation relations also
called as labor - management,
employee-employers
relations.
ASPECTS OF IR
LABOR RELATIONS
COMMUNITY
EMPLOYEREMPLOYEES
RELATIONSHIPS
GROUP RELATIONS
PROMOTIONS
AND
DEVELOPMENT OF
HEALTH SAFETY
MAINTAINENCE OF
INDUSTRIAL PEACE
AND INDUSTRIAL
STRIFE
DEVELOPMENT OF
TRUE INDUSTRIAL
DEMOCRACY
OBJECTIVES OF IR
To safeguard the interest of
labor and management
To avoid industrial conflicts
To raise productivity
Expand industrial democracy
To eliminate lockouts ,strikes
etc..
Government interference
Improvement of economic
conditions of workers
Rationalizing industries
Vesting of proprietary interest of
the workers
Justice S.K Das, workmen of Dimakuchi tea estate v
Dimakuch tea estate:
 promotion of measures for securing and preserving
amity and good relations between employer and
workmen.
 An investigations and settlement of industrial
distputes
between
employers
and
employers,employers
and
workemen
or
workmens,with a right of representation by registered
trade unionsor a federation of trade unions or an
association of employers or a federation or
association of employers
 preventions of illegal strikes and lock-outs
 Relief to workmen in the matter of lay-off and
retrenchment.
 Collective bargaining
• Justice krishna iyer in life insurance
corporation of india v D.J Bhadur:
• “the industrial disputes act is a benign
measure which seeks to pre empt industrial
tensions, provide the mechanics of dispute
resolutions and set up the infrastructure so
that the energies of partners in production
may not be dissipated in counter-productive
battles and assurance of industrial justice may
create a climate of goodwill .”
IMPORTANCE OF IR
UNINTTERUPTED PRODUCTION
REDUCTION IN INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES
HIGH MORALE
MENTAL REVOLUTION
NEW PROGRAMMES
REDUCE WASTAGE
FACTORS OF IR
NEGOTIAT
ION
SKILLS
HISTORY
SOCIAL
OFF
OF
AND
ECONO
PUBLIC
NATURE
AND
THE
ENLIGHTE
OF
INDUSTR MIC
ATTITUDE POLICY
BETTER
D TRADE
PSYCHOL JOB
SATISFA
LEGISLA EDUCATION INDUST
IAL
S OF
OGICAL CONDIT UNIONS
RY
RELATIO CTION
MANAGE TION
FACTOTS IONS
MENT
NS
AND
WORKERS
FUNCTIONS OF IR
 Administration, including overall organization,
supervision and co-ordination of industrial relations
policies and programmes.

Liaison with outside groups and personnel
departments as well as with various cadres of the
management staff.

The drafting of regulations, rules, laws or orders and
their construction and interpretation.

Position classification, including overall direction of
job analysis, salary and wage administration, wage
survey and pay schedules.
 Recruitment and employment of workers and other
staff.
 Employment testing, including intelligence tests,
mechanical aptitude tests and achievement tests.
Placement, including induction and assignment.
 Training of apprentices, production workers,
foremen and executives.
 Employee counseling on all types of personnel
problems-educational, vocational, health or behavior
problems.
 Medical and health services.
 Safety services, including first aid training.
 Group activities, including group health insurance,
housing, cafeterial programmes and social clubs.
 Suggestion plans and their uses in labor, management
and production committees.
 Employee relations, specially collective bargaining
with representatives and settling grievances.
 Public relations.
 Research in occupational trends and employee
attitudes, and analysis of labor turnover.
 Employee records for all purposes.
 Control of operation surveys, fiscal research and
analysis.
 Benefit, retirement and pension programmes.
FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS FOR
A SUCCESSFUL IR PROGRAMM
TOP LEVEL MANAGEMENT
SOUND PERSONNEL POLICIES
ADEQUETE PRACTICE SHOULD BE DEVELOPED BY
PROFESSIONALS
DETAILED SUPERVISORY TRAINING
FOLLOW-UP RESULTS
EFFECTS OF POOR IR
•
•
•
•
Multiplier effects
MULTIPLIER EFFECT
Fall in normal tempo
Resistance of change
IN NORMAL
TEMPO
frustration FALL
and social
cost
RESITANCE OF CHANGE
FRUSTRATION AND SOCIAL COST
EMERGING TRENDS IN IR
• Competition on the basis of cheap leabor
• Disinvestment
• Deregulation
• New actors and the emerging dynamics
• Pro labor and pro investor policies
• Declining TU density
• Workers militancy replaced by employers militancy
• Industrial conflicts
• Collective bargainings
COMPETITION ON THE BASIS OF
CHEAP LABOUR
Globalization and increased competition has lead to
less strikes, lockouts and less man days lost due to
strikes. Also now in the era of knowledge industry
employees are educated and thus don’t believe in
violent activities. They are having responsibilities in
cut throat competition and also are aware of their
rights well leading to decline in strikes. Employers
also avoid lockouts because decline in production for
even hours results in heavy losses so forget about
days or weeks.
DISINVESTMENT
 It changes ownership, which may bring out
changes not only in work org and employment but
also in trade union (TU)dynamics.
 It changes the work organization by necessitating
retaining and redeployment.
 It affects the right of workers and Trade unions,
including job/union security, income security, and
social security.
DEREGULATION
it is tried to ensure that pubic sector/ government
employees receive similar protection as is provided
in public/government employment. The worst
affected are the pension provisions. this means,
usually a reduction in pension benefits and an
uncertainty concerning future provision of pension
benefit due to:
The absence of government guarantees
Falling interest rates
X Investment of pension funds in stock markets
NEW ACTORS AND EMERGING
DYNAMICS
Earlier IR was mainly concerned with Trade unions, mgt
and government but now consumers and the
community are also a part of it. When the rights of
consumers and community are affected, the rights of
workers and unions and managers / employers take a
back seat. Hence there is ban on bandh and
restrictions even on protests and dharnas.
Increasingly Trade unions are getting isolated and see
a future for them only by aligning themselves with the
interests
of
the
wider
society.
PRO-LABOUR PRO INVESTOR
POLICIES
This leads to decline in strength and power of Trade
unions if not in numbers. Unions have to make
alliances with the society, consumers and community
and various civil society institutions otherwise they
will
find
themselves
dwindling.
DECLINING TU DENSITY

In government and public sectors workforce is
declining because of non-filling of vacancies and
introduction of voluntary / early separation schemes.
 New employment opportunities are shrinking in
these sectors.
 In the private sectors particularly in service and
software sector, the new, young, and female workers
are generally less eager to join unions.
Workers militancy replaced by
employer militancy
DUE TO INDUSTRIAL CONFLICT
In 1980-81 man days lost = 402.1 million
In 1990-91 man days lost = 210 million
Not because of improved IR but because of the fear
of job security, concern about the futility of strikes,
and concern to survive their organization for their
income
survival.
Trade unions have become defensive evident from
the fact that there is significant shift from strikes to
law suits. Instead of pressing for higher wages and
improved benefits, Trade unions are pressing for
maintenance of existing benefits and protection and
claims over non-payment of agreed wages and
benefits.
COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
Collective bargaining is a process of negotiations between
employers and the representatives of a unit of employees
aimed at reaching agreements which regulate working
conditions.
Total number of strikes and lockout have declined since 2000-04
• In 2003 it was 552 and in 2004 it went down to 477.
• As regards women working on night shifts, The Factories
(Amendment) Bill 2005, was under consideration to provide
them
flexibility
and
safety.
Also, to simplify the procedure for managements to maintain
registers and filing returns, an amendment of Labour Laws
(Exemption from Furnishing returns and maintaining Registers
by Certain Establishments) Act 1988, was under consideration.
YEARS
NUMBER
STRIKES
MANDAYS
LOST
STRIKES IN
MILLIONS
NUMBER
LOCKOUTS
MANDAYS
LOST
LOCKOUTS
IN
MILLIONS
TOTAL
NUMBER
TOTAL
NUMBER
OF
MANDAYS
LOST
1994
808
6.7
393
14.3
1201
21.0
1995
732
5.7
334
10.6
1066
16.3
1996
762
7.8
403
12.5
1166
20.3
1997
793
6.3
512
10.7
1305
17.0
SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE IR
A. Both management and unions should develop
constructive attitudes towards each other
B. All basic policies and procedures relating to Industrial
Relation should be clear to everybody in the
organization and to the union leader. The personnel
manager must make certain that line people will
understand and agree with these policies.
C. The personnel manager should remove any distrust
by convincing the union of the company’s integrity
and his own sincerity and honesty. Suspicious,
rumors and doubts should all be put to rest.
D. The personnel manager should not vie with the union
to gain workers‘loyal to both the organization. Several
research studies also confirm the idea of dual
allegiance. There is strong evidence to discard the
belief that one can owe allegiance to one group only.
E. Management should encourage right kind of union
leadership. While it is not for the management to
interfere with union activities, or choose the union
leadership, its action and attitude will go a long way
towards developing the right kind of union leadership.
“Management gets the union it deserves” is not just
an empty phrase
THANK YOU