Arnab Kumar Chatterjee

Roll – 95/HRO/131020

mhrom

EMPLOYEE RELATIONS IN INDIA

CONCEPT – The industrial relations signifies the relationship that exists between the employees and the management of any firm or industry. According to the ILO standards , international relations deal with either relationship between the state and the employees and the workers association or the relations between the occupational organisations themselves.

Nature of industrial relations in India –

• Concerned with the relationship of management and workers

• To protect the interests of the employees

• Concerned with the system , rules and procedures used by unions and employees.

INTRODUCTION TO INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS -

• Employee relations is an approach which is a branch of the industrial relations, which involves the activities that involve recognising, understanding and finally mitigating the employee employer conflicts.

• Employee relations is often a very vague concept since most of its concepts are quite overlapping with other familiar concepts of industrial relations. But as conflicts between employee and employee has been growing ever since, especially in the Indian industrial sectors which have been plagued by the frequent lockouts,strikes,etc.

• The need of a separate branch of study to address this matters , led to the evolution of the field of study that is employee relations.

DEFINITION -

• To maintain industrial democracy based on participation of labour in the management and gains of industry.

• To raise productivity by reducing tendency of high labour turnover and absenteeism.

• Establishing proper channel of communication

• Safeguarding the interests of the labours well as management by securing the highest level of mutual trust and goodwill among all sections of society.

• To avoid about government5 control over sick industrial units in time of conflicts.

• Ensuring industrial peace through better living and working standards of the employees.

OBJECTIVE OF THE EMPLOYEE RELATIONS APPROACH -

The labour policies in Indian industrial perspective evolved with time. The time scale of this evolution can be distributed across three vital phases –

1. THE FIRST PHASE ( 1947-66, 1st and 2nd five year plans )

2. THE SECOND PHASE ( 1967-80, 4th and 5th five year plans )

3. THE THIRD PHASE ( 1981-91, 6th and 7th five year plans)

EVOLUTION OF INDIAN LABOUR POLICIES IN SUCCESSIVE PLAN PERIODS -

• First five year plan –

1. Right to strike and lockout was recognised

2. collective bargaining and negotiation were recognised

3. Establishment of independent third party interlocutor

4. Adjudication via third- party intervention, arbitration or conciliation

5. Standardisation of wages, profit- sharing , etc.

6. Effective implementation of minimum wage legislation

EVOLUTION THROUGH THE PLAN PERIODS -

• Second five year plan –

1. Growth oriented labour policies.

2. Peaceful, socialistically influenced means of dispute mitigation.

3. Legislations like the apprentice act, 1961; the maternity benefit act 1961,etc

• Third five year plan –

1. The main focus was on implementing the previously passed legislations.

2. Encouraged the government’s role in settling disputes .

3. Labour welfare gained primacy with passing of legislations like payment of bonus act 1965, establishment of national safety council in 1966, the minimum wages act, etc.

• Fourth five year plan –

1. Analysis was done on the ESI scheme .

2. Industrial training to craftsmen, employee provident fund, scheme, etc gained importance.

3. Rural growth, small and medium scale industries gained the limelight.

4. Generation of more employment opportunities were deemed vital for growth, steps were taken in that direction.

• Sixth five year plan –

1. Revision of wage policy, minimum wages to more beneficiaries, etc.

2. Social security of the workers gained importance as per the state insurance act 1948, family pension scheme, etc.

3. Application of equal remuneration to all branches of of employment..

4. Provision of child care and welfare of women labourers through elimination of gender wise discriminations, maternity benefits, etc.

• Seventh five year plan –

1. Concept of productive employment gained importance

2. Adaptation of latest technology of production

3. Arrangements in terms of education, training, and re-training, re-orientation of workers to avoid mismatch with regards to the location and technology of production.

4. Emphasis laid on safety of workers, which needed constant attention.

5. Workers belonging to the unorganized sectors were brought under the lens as efforts were made to train them and upgrade their existing skills.

6. Women workers were brought t into the mainstream, thus enjoying similar facilities like their male counterparts.

• Eighth five year plan –

1. Employment generation and economic growth simultaneously gained pace in planning.

2. Earlier existing labour policies were scrutinized . Inflexibility in them were recognised and corrected.

3. Labour policies were transformed to make them more competitive.

• Ninth five year plan -

1. The plan targeted 10 million employment opportunities per year over the tenth plan period.

2. Renewed emphasis on the social security and safety and thus formed a working group.

3. PSUs came into the scene thus providing employment without risk of unwarranted cutbacks

• Now there are two ways by which the industrial conflicts can be settled –

1. BIPARTISM - this kind of conflict resolution involves two parties mainly the employer and the employee concerned. Trade unions may negotiate on the worker’s behalf. This process gas its inherent ambiguity, as a trust deficit always hampers the process.

2. TRIPARTISM - this means the intermediation of a third party intermediary whenever two parties involved in a industrial dispute reaches a deadlock. This a quite popular and reliable means of conflict resolution since these bodies are often independent third parties, impartial in nature.

in the Indian industrial context with looming and delayed industrial conflicts like that in jute , etc. tripartite negotiations are gaining pace.

SETTLEMENT OF INDUSTRIAL CONFLICTS -

• Trade unions of India are the backbones to the machinery of industrial dispute settlements. They are both national and regional in their area of operation.e.g. – AITUC, INTUC, etc. and their regional affiliates.

• Roles of the trade unions are as follows –

1. Securing fare wages for workers.

2. Safeguarding the security of tenure and improving conditions of service.

3. Enlargement of opportunities for promotion and training.

4. Improvement of working and living conditions.

5. Provision of recreational, cultural and educational facilities.

6. Promotion of national integration.

TRADE UNIONS OF INDIA -

• the management can employ the following methods to resolve the employee relations disputes –

1. OPEN – DOOR POLICIES.

2. SENIOR MANAGEMENT REVIEW.

3. OMBUDSPERSON.

4. GRIEVANCES.

5. MEDIATION.

ROLE OF MANAGEMENT IN SETTLING DISPUTES -

Now the employee relations conflicts can be differentiated into two categories as per their origins –

1. Conflicts arising from the socio-economic aspects –

This includes the degree of literacy, safety of workplace, degree of equality and discrimination of treatment from worker to worker.

2. Conflicts arising out of the administrative reasons –

This includes the management’s willingness to negotiate with the workers, recognition of their trade unions, means of dispute settlement, etc.

CLASSIFICATION OF CONFLICTS -

• It is located in a village area in Eluru of Andhra Pradesh after independence. The jute mill was dubbed as a `growth with a purpose’.

• There were three categories of workers in the mills-

1. Permanent workers

2. Badli workers

3. Special badli workers

A comprehensive study was done on the workers of he mills to highlight the nature of their employee relations disputes , their respective reasons and their solutions, both related to socio-economic aspects and that relating to the administrative aspects.

CASE STUDY – 1

SRI KRISHNA JUTE MILLS , ELURU, ANDHRA PRADESH

• Satisfaction from the salary paid to workers –

FINDINGS ON SOCIO-ECONOMIC ASPECTS -

SATISFIED DISSATISFIED0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

• Satisfaction over prevailing working conditions –

• Satisfaction on safety conditions in mills –

satisfied(35%)

dissatisfied(65%)

satisfied (4)

dissatisfied (56 )

• Satisfaction level with the working provisions prevailing in the mills(administrative aspects) –

• Nature of relationship between the employee and the emoployer -

satisfied( 35%)

dissatisfied ( 65% )

cooperativ with expreession( 66.7%)

cooperative without expression ( 33.3%)

• Satisfaction with the leaves given by the organisation –

• Measures that employees prefer to settle

Employee disp[utes -

satisfied( 45%)

dissatisfied ( 55%)

non-statutory measures( 35%)

statutory measures ( 26.7% )

government machinery ( 36.7% )

• The jorhat district is the leading tea producer in indian subcontinent. Studying the estates we get the picture about the employee relations status as shown in the following figures –

1. SHARE OF WOMEN WORKERS IN THE TEA ESTATES OF THE DISTRICT – this figure shows us the assymetry that persists in tea estates regarding the employability of women workers -

CASE STUDY – 2

TEA INDUSTRY IN THE JORHAT DISTRICT OF ASSAM

• Data on degree of education and participation by the workers with respect to their genders –

Category 1 Category 2 Category 3 Category 40

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

MALEFEMALE

• Findings on the level of satisfaction of the workers on various socio – economic aspects at the estates –

PUCCA H

OUSE

WATE

R FACILI

TIES

ELEC

TRIC

ITY

MUSIC S

YSTE

M

TELE

VISIO

N

HEALT

H FACILI

TIES

BANKING F

ACILITI

ES

NUTRIT

OUS

EDUCATI

ON FACIL

ITIE

S

MOBILE

HYGIE

NE AW

ARENES

S

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

FINDINGS

In the Jorhat district of Assam, just above west Bengal we have similar situations in the tea estates like Lohpohia tea estate.

Labour is the heart and soul of tea plantation. Without labour not a single tea plant can survive as no baby can survive without mother.

 

But, unfortunately as far as life situation of the tea labourers are concerned, things are not as ideal as it should be in our country and especially in Assam. Here a tea labourer hardly gets a chance to lead a good life let alone a rosy one. As described by Wikipedia, the tea tribes of Assam are among the backward and most exploited tribes in India. Though their newer generation is comparatively educated and now it has intellectual and professionals in various fields.

The tea tribes, being basically labourers, live in village inside tea estates.

These estates are located in interior places and this contributes to the backwardness and exploitation of them by the tea planters. The workers devoid of the basic amenities of life live in impoverishment and die in obscurity. The tea planters usually exploit the tea tribes in every possible way; Agitation of labor against the management is common.

• Legal binding on the financial security on the wortkers through the provident fund scheme for the plantation workers in assam.

• Provision of health benefits.

• Maternity benefits through the maternity benefits act, 1961.

• Provision of monetary and non-monetary benefits through the payment of gratuity act, 1972.

• The factories act laid down compulsory laws thus putting the onus on the mill owners making them responsible for the health and living standards of its workers.

• Launch of welfare schemes for the elderly , women and their children.

STEPS TAKEN TO MITIGATE CONFLICTS ARISING FROM SOCIO-ECONOMIC CAUSES -

• Legislations like the factories act, 1948, the industrial disputes act,1967, the industrial employment act, 1946 are milestone achievements in these field.

• Trade unions were brought onto the table to negotiate and settle the industrial disputes.

• Methods like collective bargaining, participative management, etc. were exercised.

• Abolition of monopolistic practices by the authorities.

• Equality in terms of wages and remunerations were brought via the minimum wages act, 1948, the equal remuneration act, 1976.

• Discrimination between union and non-union workers, and retaliatory trade practices were abandoned for the sake of better mitigation of conflicts.

STEPS TAKEN TO RESOLVE ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES IN EMPLOYEE RELATIONS -

THANK YOU