Case Study on

Role of Proper Appreciation of Facts, Situation and Credence of Conciliation

Officer in Effective Conciliation of Industrial Disputes

In any industrial society or unit, the industrial disputes are inevitable. These disputes
between employer and their employees can broadly be classified in the individual
disputes and collective disputes. When the parties to these disputes fail to settle the
same through bi-partite discussions and consultations, the institutions like conciliation
step in and thus play an important role in resolution of various kinds of industrial
disputes. The conciliation officers are appointed by the government to intervene in
industrial disputes and in assisting the workmen and the management through
persuasion, advice and alternate proposals etc. to resolve the disputes and arrive at a
voluntary settlement by use of his expertise of diplomacy and acuteness. The task of
conciliation machinery under the law governing industrial disputes in India is to promote
fair and amicable settlements. The law does not lay down any strict guidelines in this
regard and the conciliation officer has to device his own technique, method and ways to
resolve the disputes before him/her as per the situation of dispute. However, there are
certain pre-requisites, which can definitely help in this regard. The first and foremost of
these pre-requisites is the overall assessment of the situations relating to the case
before the conciliation officer. The second in the order perhaps is the credence of the
conciliation officer.

This case study provides the highlights the ‘Role of Proper Appreciation of Facts,
Situation and Credence of Conciliation Officer in Effective Conciliation of Industrial
Disputes’. The dispute relates to one of the export houses in Noida in the state of UP
engaged in garments making. This particular unit which was 100% export oriented had
an employees’ strength of around 500. For several years the unit was running in very
good profits and the wage negotiation used to take place every three years. During the
last wage negotiation the workers were given a total hike of Rs.750/- in the CTC. The
trouble arose in the year 2015 when the unit announced a hike of only Rs.100/- in the
CTC. The trade union of the concerned unit placed the charter of demand stating that
since the last wage negotiation gave a hike of Rs.750/- hence taking to account the
hikes in prices and cost of living this time they should be given a hike of at least
Rs.900/- in the CTC and gave the strike notice. The dispute was seized in conciliation
by the conciliation officer of the area. Both the employer and the trade unions were
adamant on their stand. The employer argument was that situations had altogether
changed in the international market as many other competitors have also entered the
market and the employer was not sure of sustaining the profits, which was he was
making earlier. They had also to invest on up-gradation of technology in order to
survive. Several rounds of discussions had taken place before the conciliation officer
without leading to any fruitful result. Finally, during the course of one of the conciliation
meeting, the conciliation officer based on his overall assessment of the situation and
facts of the case expressed that this time the issue settled with a hike of around
Rs.450/- in the CTC. Both the parties, immediately got up and walked out observing
that how could he reach this kind of conclusion. However, to the utter surprise of the
conciliation officer, next day morning the conciliation officer got a telephone call from the
General Secretary of the union that since based on his discretion, the conciliation officer
had suggested a hike of Rs. 450/- in the CTC, they would request him to see that the
same is again increased by an amount of around Rs.50/- to Rs.100/- . Similarly, in the
evening at around 3.00 pm, the conciliation officer also got a telephone call from the
representative of the employer expressing that since based on his discretion, the
conciliation officer had suggested a hike of Rs. 450/- in the CTC, he would request him
to take all the due care that hike should not go beyond Rs.50/- over and above the hike
suggested by the conciliation officer and finally he succeeded in making the parties to
agree to hike of Rs.475/-. Both the parties were immediately called in his office and the
settlement was singed and registered. It was shared by the concerned conciliation
officer during one of the programmes attended by him at VVGNLI in the recent past that
apart from various of the factor it was his assessment of overall situation of the fact,
circumstances and the credence, which he had help in success of conciliation in this
particular case, which finally gave him a lot of professional and personal satisfaction.