Legislations concerning settlement
of Industrial Disputes
Prof. Hiteshwari Jadeja
Industrial dispute
A dispute is basically a difference of opinion between the
employer and the employees over one or more issues.
INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES ACT, 1947
 Definitions (From Book or Soft copy)
 Authorities under the Act (From Book or Soft copy)
 Provisions related to Strike & Lockout (From Book or Soft
copy)
 Provisions related to Lay-off & Retrenchment (From Book or
Soft copy)
Meaning
 According to industrial disputes Act 1947,
“Industrial dispute is any dispute or difference
between the employers and employees or between employers
and workmen or workmen and workmen, which is concerned
with the employment or the terms of employment or with
conditions of labour or any person.”
Characteristics of industrial dispute
 Industrial dispute is a collective dispute between employer




and employees.
The relationship existing between the parties to the industrial
dispute must be that of employer and employee or coworkers.
The dispute may arise out of disagreements between
employers and employees over the terms of employment.
It could also be connected to the conditions of labour.
The industrial dispute may even relate to non-employment
causes of workmen.
Causes of industrial disputes
 Demand for pay and benefits hike.
 Demand for hygienic and safer working conditions.
 Demand for better labour welfare and social security





measures.
Demand for recognition and appreciation.
Demand for justice to an individual or a group of employees.
One-upmanship among the unions.
External interference.
Numerous labour legislations.
Types of industrial disputes
 Interest disputes- These refer to the disputes relating to
the economic interest of the employees.
 Rights disputes- These involve disputes over the
understanding, interpretation, and application of the
rules and regulations which protect the rights of the
employees.
Outcomes of disputes
The outcomes of disputes are
 Strike
 Picketing
 Gherao
 Lock-out
Strike
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
.
-Industrial disputes act, 1947
Types of strike
 General strike
 Pen-down
 Tools-down and sit-in strikes
 Wild-cat strike
 Go-slow and work-to-rule strikes
 Sick leave and mass casual leave strikes
 Hunger strike
 Sympathy strike
General strike
 It normally refers to a large-scale strike organized by the
employees belonging to an industry, a region or an entire
country.
 Since these strikes are organized on a mass basis, they create
a huge impact and often put a lot of pressure on the
employers.
 General strikes are normally not intended against any
individual employer.
Pen-down, tools-down and sit-in strikes
 In pen-down, tools-down and sit-in strikes, employees report
for duty but do no work.
 In these forms of protest, the employees just refuse to leave
their place after entering the work premises and remain idle.
Wild-cat strike
 When employees resort to an unauthorized strike in
violation of the labour contract or agreements, it is called a
wild-cat strike.
 Wild-cat strikes are illegal and the striking employees are not
protected legally against the consequences of these strikes.
Go-slow (slow down) and work-to-rule
strikes
 Go-slow and work-to-rule strikes are forms of strike in
which employees work but not up to their usual levels or
capacity.
 Striking employees reduce their output deliberately to show
their protest to the employers.
 Here, the employees strictly follow the rules and just refuse
to deviate from them.
Sick leave and mass casual leave strikes
 The purpose of mass casual or sick leave is to bring the work
to a halt in order to achieve their demands.
 The employees may opt for this method even to forewarn
the employers of the consequences of a strike planned in the
future.
 In this form of strike, the striking employees are legally right
and safe as they exercise their right to avail leave.
Hunger strike
 In a hunger strike, the employees undertake fasting by
abstaining from both food and work as a means of protest.
 The purpose of such a strike is to embarrass the employers
and get the attention of the government and the general
public to the cause of the strike.
Sympathy strike
 The purpose of a sympathy strike is to express sympathy and
solidarity with another group of striking employees
belonging to a different category of employment in the same
organization.
 Incidentally, the sympathy strike may also be conducted for
the striking employees in other organizations in the same or a
different industry.
Picketing
 It is a form of protest by employees in which the primary
intention is to prevent or dissuade the non-striking employees
from attending to their work during the strike period.
 Picketing may be held at the workplace or even at some other
prominent places to attract the attention of the public and the
government.
Gherao
 It is a form of protest in which employees encircle their
employers or top managers at the workplace with a view to
restricting their movements.
 The purpose of a gherao is to force the employer or
managers to concede the demands of the workers.
 The wrongful confinement of any person is not legally
tenable.
Lock-out
 A lock-out is the employer’s response to the employees’
continued protest in the form of strike.
 In a lock-out, the employer closes the workplace with the
aim of preventing the employees from entering the factory
premises and performing their job.
The temporary closing of a place of employment or the
suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to
continue to employ any number of persons employed by him.
-Industrial disputes act, 1947
Authorities under the Act/
Machineries for settlement of
Dispute
A. Works Committee
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
Conciliation Officers
Board of Conciliation
Courts of Inquiry
Labour Court
Industrial Tribunal
National Tribunal
Provisions related to Strike &
Lockout
 (Learn From Book or Soft copy or Notes given in class)
Provisions related to Lay-off &
Retrenchment
 (Learn From Book or Soft copy or Notes given in class)
METHODS OF SETTLING INDUSTRIAL
DISPUTES
Machinery for the
settlement of
industrial dispute
WITH STATE INTERVENTION
WITHOUT
STATE
INTERVENTION
1).Collective Bargaining
2). Voluntary Arbitration
1).Compulsory establishment of
bipartite committees
2).Establishment of compulsory
Collective Bargaining
3).Compulsory Investigation
4).Compulsory conciliation and
mediation
5).Compulsory
arbitration
or
adjudication
Settlement Without State Intervention
There are two ways in which the basic parties to an industrial
dispute- the employer and the employees- can settle their
disputes.
Collective bargaining
2. Voluntary arbitration
1.
Collective bargaining
 It is a forum for reaching an agreement between the




employer and the union after negotiations and bargaining.
Collective bargaining provides for resolution of disputes
through compromises or concessions made by both the
parties.
Collective bargaining implies the following main
steps:
a. Presentation in a collective manner, to the employer, their
demands and grievances by the employees;
b. Discussions and negotiations on the basis of mutual give
and take for settling the grievances and fulfilling the
demands;
Collective bargaining (contd.)
 C. Signing of a formal agreement or an informal
understanding when negotiations result in mutual
satisfaction; and
 d.In the event of failure of negotiations, a likely resort to
strike or lock-out to force therecalcitrant party to come to
terms..
Voluntary Arbitration
 In many cases an argument simply cannot be settled as both
parties disagree on their own grounds.
 They therefore enter into Voluntary Arbitration, which
involves appointing an independent party to assess
the situation and then make a decision based on the
facts presented to them.
 It is commonly viewed as less expensive and faster than
resolving a dispute in court.
 An arbitrator may be a single person or a panel.
Voluntary Arbitration
 At the time of submitting a dispute to arbitration, the parties
may agree in advance, to abide by the award of the arbitrator
and thus industrial peace is maintained and the dispute is
resolved.
 •Sometimes, however, the parties may agree to submit the
dispute to an arbitrator but at the same time, reserve their
right to accept or reject the award when it comes.
Settlement Under the Influence of the
State
 Compulsory establishment of bipartite committees;
 Establishment of compulsory collective bargaining;
 Conciliation and mediation (voluntary and compulsory);
 Compulsory investigation; and
 Compulsory arbitration or adjudication.
Compulsory Establishment of Bipartite
Committees
 •The state has passed enactments requiring the establishment
of bipartite committees consisting of the representatives of
workers and their employer at the plant or industrial level.
 •These bipartite committees 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
 In India the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947provides for the
compulsory formation of works committees in industrial
establishments employing 100 or more employees.
Cont….
 A works committee is entrusted with the responsibility “to promote
measures for securing and preserving amity and good relations
between the employer and the workmen and, to that end, to
comment upon matters of their common interest or concern and
endeavour to compose any material difference of opinion in respect
of such matters.
 The basic idea behind the establishment of such bipartite
committees are:
 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.
 •In India, refusal to bargain collectively in good faith by the
employer and the recognised union, has been included in the list
of unfair labour practices by an amendment of the Industrial
Disputes Act in 1982
 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 mediation
 b)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.
 Conciliation can be defined as a procedure to achieve
amicable settlement with the assistance of an independent
third party.
 Conciliation means different forms of mediation through
which disputes can be settled without arbitration.
Voluntary conciliation and mediation
 :•The state sets up a conciliation and mediation machinery,
consisting of personnel trained in the art of conciliating
disputes.
 •The services of this machinery are always available to the
disputants.
 •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.
 •Suggestions may come from the conciliator or the
mediator, but the 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 latter to seek to conciliate the
dispute.
 •Meanwhile, the state requires the parties to refrain from
causing any work-stoppage for the purpose of resolving the
dispute, so long as the conciliation proceeding is going on.
 •Generally there is a time limit for the conciliators and
mediators to conclude their efforts at conciliation.
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 which finds out the
relevant facts and issues involved and give them wide
publicity so that the pressure of public opinion may force
the recalcitrant party to give up its obstinate attitude
 Further, it provides a cooling off period to the parties
concerned so that they could reconsider their respective
stands, realise the implications of their steps and, if
possible, settle their disputes peacefully.
Compulsory Arbitration or Adjudication
 Adjudication is a court-based decision-making





process that involves a third party and the
judgements are binding on the parties.
Adjudication is usually a highly formal and time-consuming
process.
It is normally an involuntary and adversarial process.
•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
based upon the nature of reference and nature of the award:
a)Compulsory reference but voluntary acceptance of
the award
b)Compulsory reference and compulsory acceptance
of the award.
 •The parties are required to refrain from going on a strike or
declaring a lock-out during the pendency of the adjudication
proceedings and during the period when the award is in
operation.
 •An Arbitration Court 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.
Adjudication in India
 •The Industrial Disputes Act,1947, provides for three types
of adjudication authorities for theadjudication of industrial
disputes:
 a.Labour Court
 b.Tribunal
 c.National Tribunal
Thank You