Forms of Disputes
Industrial Disputes may take the form of strikes,
go-slow tactics, token strikes, sympathetic strikes, pen-down strikes, hunger
strikes, bandhs, gheraos and lockouts.
A strike is a stoppage of work
initiated or supported by a trade union, when a group of employees act together
as a last resort to bring pressure to bear on an employer to resolve a
grievance or constrain him to accept such terms and conditions of service as
the employees want to enjoy.
If, however, an employer closes
down his factory or place where his workers are employed. Or if he refuses to
continue in his employment of a person or persons because he wants to force
them to agree to his terms and conditions of service during the pendency of a
dispute, the resulting situation is a lockout.
Types of
Disputes
Disputes are of two kinds:
1. Disputes of Right, which relate to the application or interpretation of an existing agreement or contract of employment; and
2. Disputes of Interest, which relate to claims by employees or proposals by a management about the terms and conditions of employment.
According to the industrial Disputes Act, 1947, and the many judicial decisions which have been handed down by courts and tribunals, industrial disputes may be raised on any one of the following issues;
1. Fairness of the standing orders
2. Retrenchment of workers following the closing down of a factory, lay-offs, discharge or dismissal, reinstatement of dismissed employees, and compensation for them
3. Benefits of an Award denied to a worker; non-payment of personal allowance o seasonal employees; the demand of employees for medical relief for their parents;
4. Wages, fixation wages, and minimum rates, modes of payment, and the right of an employee to choose one of the awards when two awards on wages have been given;
5. Lockout and claim for damages by an employer because employees resorted to an illegal strike;
6. Payment of hours, gratuity, provident fund, pension and traveling allowance;
7. Disputes between rival unions; and
8. Disputes between employers and employers.
Causes
of Industrial Disputes
Some of the common causes of Industrial disputes have been listed below:
Psychological Causes
1. Difficulty in adjusting with each other ( i.e., employer and worker)
2. Clash of personalities
3. Authoritarian Leadership (administration)
4. Demand for self-respect and recognition by workers.
5. Strict discipline
Institutional
Causes
1. Non recognition of the labour union by the management
2. Matters of collective bargaining.
3. Unfair conditions and practices.
4. Pressures workers, not to become members of union, etc.
Economic Causes
1. Terms and conditions of employment
i. More hours of work
ii. Working in night shifts
iii. Promotion, layoff, retrenchment, dismissal, etc.
2. Workers conditions
i. Environmental conditions such as too hot, too cold, noisy, dirty, messy, etc
ii. Improper plant and workstation layout.
iii. Old and trouble giving machines
iv. Frequent changes in products, etc
3. Wages and other benefits
i. Inadequate wages
ii. Undesired deduction from wages
iii. Poor fringe benefits
iv. No bonus or other incentives, etc.
4. Denial of legal and other rights of workers
i. Not proceeding as per labour laws and regulations, standing orders, etc
ii. Violation of already made mutual agreements (i.e. between employer and workers).Settlement of Industrial Disputes
The different methods employed for settling the disputes are:
1. Without state intervention
i. Collective bargaining
ii. Voluntary arbitration
iii. Code of discipline
2. With state intervention
i. Compulsory collective bargaining
ii. Bipartite committees
iii. Compulsory arbitration
iv. Compulsory conciliation and mediation
v. Compulsory investigation
3. Grievance procedure