Unit:II

INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES ID
According to sec2 (k) of the industrial
disputes act, 1947 the term
industrial dispute means any
dispute or difference b/w employers
and employers or b/w employers and
workmen , or b/w workmen and
workmen, which is connected with
the employment or non-employment
or the terms of employment and
conditions of employment of any
person.
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The following principles judge the

nature of an industrial dispute.
1.The dispute must affect a large
number of workmen who have a
community of interest and the rights
of these workmen must be effected
as a class.
2.The dispute must be taken up either
by the industry union or by a
substantial number of workmen.
3. The grievance turns from individual
complaint into a general complaint.
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 4. There must be some nexus b/w the

union and the dispute.
5. According to sec 2A of the industrial
disputes act 1947 , a workman has a right
to raise an industrial dispute
with regard to termination ,
discharge,
dismissal or retrenchment of his or her
service,
even though no other workman or any
trade union of workman or any trade union
of workmen raises it or is a party to the
dispute.
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Industrial disputes
Strikes

Primary strikes

Stay-away strikes

lock-outs

secondary
strikes
general
particular
political
bandhs

strike

others

sympathy

Sit-down,stay-in
Tool-down or pendown strikes
Go-slow
Work to rule
Token or protest strikes
Lightening or cat call strikes
Picketing and boycott
Gherao
Hunger strike

 Strikes: suspension or temporary

cessation of work by a group of
employees in order to express
grievances or to enforce a demand
concerning changes in work
conditions.
Strikes are divided into primary strike
and secondary strikes.
Primary strikes
are generally aimed against the
employers with whom the disputes
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1.Stay away strike:

In this strike , workmen stay away from
the work place . They organise rallies ,
demonstrations, etc.
2.Stay- in strike or sit down strike:
In this strike , workmen come to the
place, they stay at the work place but
they dont work.
3.Tools-down, pen down or mouth shut
strike :
In this strike , the strikers lay down their
tools in case of factory workers, lay down
their pens in case of offfice workers, and
shut their mouth in case of teachers.
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4. Token or protest strikes:

It is a very short duration and is in the nature
of signal for the danger ahead.In this strike the
workers do not work for an hour or a day.
5. Lightening or wildcat strike :
In this strike , the strikers strike the work
without any prior notice or with a shortest
notice.
6.Go slow :
In this strike , the workers, intentionally reduce
the speed of work.
7.Work to rule / work to designation:
In this strike , the strikers undertake the work
according to rules or job description.

8.Picketing: It is an act of posting

pickets and implies machinery or
patrolling of the workmen in front of
the premises of the employer.
9. Boycott:
It aims at disrupting the normal
functioning of the enterprise.
10.Gherao: means surround .It is a
physical blockade of a trageter
either by encirclement, intended to
block the regress and ingress from
and to a particular office, workshop
etc.
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11. Hunger strike :

This type of strike is resorted to either
by the leaders of the union or by some
workers all at a time or in a small batches
for a limited period or up to the period
of settlement of disputes.
Secondary strike:
are against a third party. These strikes are
sympathetic strike .
Other strikes:
these strikes are in the form of general,
particular, political, and bandhs.
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Prevention of strikes
1.The mgt should adopt well-defined,
precise, clear and progressive HRM
policies for maintenance of good IR in the
organisation.
2.It should ensure an effective
administration and timely implementation
of these policies.
3.It should ensure that an effective twoway communication system in operation .
This helps theMgt to create a favourable
climate of goodwill and faith in the
Org,and
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4. It should provide just and humane

conditions of work,along with
suitable welfare activities for the
benefit of the workers, and develop
close personal contacts with the
employees at all levels.

5.It should evolve and adopt a

suitable and speedy grievance
redressal procedure for the
management of workers problem.
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6.It should give recognition to a

representative union and should
have a pragmatic approach to
union activities.
7.It should ensure joint consultation
at different levels and encourage
collective bargaining for the
resolution of differences between
them.
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Lock-outs:
The Industrial Dispute Act of 1947,
defines lock-out as the temporary
shutting down or closing of a place
of business by the employer.
Lock out is common in educational
institutions like unversity.

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Types of industrial disputes

Interest dispute
Grievances or right disputes.
Interest disputes:
These disputes are also called economic
disputes. Such type of disputes arise out of
terms and conditions of employment either out
of the claims made by the employees or
offers given by the employers. Such demand or
offers are generally made with a view to arrive
at a collective agreement.
Egs: lay offs claims for wages and bonus , job
security fringe benefits.ect.

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 Grievance or right disputes:

arises out of the application or
interpretation of existing agreements or
contracts between the employees and the
management.
They relate either to individual worker or a
group of workers in the same group . It is
also called as individual disputes.
Payment of wages and other fringe
benefits, working time ,over-time
,seniority, promotion, demotion,
dismissal, discipline , transfer etc. are the
egs .of grievance or right disputes.
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INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES IN
INDIA

Pre- independence period

Post- independence period
Post- liberalization period

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Causes of industrial dispute

Economic causes -wages ,
bonus,allowances,benefits, incentives.
Management practices-unfair labour
practices.
Trade union practices-union rivalry.
Legal and political factors-political
interference.

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Consequences of industrial
disputes
Loss of production
Income and employment
Increase in inflation and cost of
living.
Economic welfare of the nation .

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Prevention of industrial
disputes
The preventive mechinery includes
various measures like
Trade union
Collective bargaining
Grievance procedure
Workers participation in management
Empowerment, health and safety
Social security.
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 The additional preventive measures

include the following ;
Joint consultations
Works commitees
councils

joint mgt

Standing orders
Code of discipline

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Various methods of settlement of

disputes
aa A
Collective
A
rr
i
Arbitratiion
A
R

bargaining

Code of
discipline

Grievance
procedure

Disputes
settlement

Consultative
machinery

r
a
a

conciliation

Adjudication

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Settlement of industrial
disputes
1.Conciliation
2.Arbitration
3.Adjudication
1. conciliation:
refers to the process by which
representative of workers and
employers are brought together
before a third party with a view to
persuading them to arrive at an
agreement by mutual discussion
between them.
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The third party may be one

individual or a group of people .
Conciliation is characterised by the
following features:
1.The conciliator or mediator tries to
remove the difference between the
parties .
2. He/she persuades the parties to
think over the matter with a
problem-solving approach ie, with a
give and take approach .
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3.He/she only persuades the

disputants to reach a solution and
never impose his/her own
viewpoint.
4.The conciliator may change his
approach from case to case as
he /she finds fit depending on
other factors.
According to the Indstrial Disputes
act 1947, the conciliation machinery
in India consist of the following :
1. conciliation officer
2. board of conciliation
3. court of enquiry.
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Conciliation officer:
The industrial disputes act 1947, under
its sec4 , provides for the appropriate
government to appoint such number of
persons as it thinks fit to be conciliation
officers.
Here the appropriate government means
one in whose jurisdiction the disputes
fall.
The commissioner /additional
commissioner /deputy commissioner is
appointed as conciliation officer for
undertakings employing 20 or more
persons, at the state level, officers from
central labour commission office are
appointed as conciliation officer, in the
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case of central govt.

 The conciliation officer enjoys the

powers of a civil court. He is
expected to give judgement within
14 days if the commencement of
the conciliation proceedings. The
judgement given by him is binding
on the parties to the dispute.

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Board of conciliation :
In case the conciliation officer fails
to resolve the dispute between the
disputants , under sec 5 of the
industrial disputes act , 1947, the
appropriate government can
appoint a board of conciliation.
Thus , the board of conciliation is
not a permanent institution like
conciliation officer . It is an adhoc
body consisting of a chairman and
two or four members nominated in
equal numbers by the parties to the
dispute.
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 The board admits disputes only referred

to it by the government. It follows the
same conciliation proceedings as is
followed by the conciliation officer .
The board enjoys the powers of civil
court.
The board is expected to give its
judgement within two months of the date
on which the dispute was referred to it.
In India , appointment of the board of
conciliation is rare for the settlement of
disputes . In practice , settling disputes
through a conciliation officier is more
common and flexible.
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Arbitration :
Is a process in which the conflicting
parties agree to refer their dispute
to a neutral third party known as
Arbitrator.
Arbitration differs from conciliation
in the sense that in arbitration , the
arbitrator gives his judgement on a
dispute while in conciliation , the
conciliator only facilitates the
disputing parties to reach at a
decision.
The arbitrator does not enjoy any
judicial powers.
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 The arbitrator listens to the view

points of the conflicting parties and
then gives his decision which is
binding on all the parties.
The judgement on the dispute is
sent to the government.
The government publishes the
judgement within 30 days of its
submission and the same becomes
enforceable after 30 days of its
publication.
In India , there are two types of
arbitration: voluntary and
compulsory.
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 Voluntary arbitration : In voluntary

arbitration both the conflicting parties
appoint a neutral third party as arbitrator
.
The arbitrator acts only when the dispute
is referred to him/her. With a view to
promote voluntary arbitration , the
government of India has constituted a
Tripartite National Arbitration promotion
board in July 1987, consisting of
representative of employees (trade
unions) employers and the government.
However , the voluntary arbitration could
not be successful because the
judgements given by it are not binding
on
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Compulsory arbitration:
The government can force the
disputing parties to go for
compulsory arbitration . In other
form, both the disputing parties can
request the government to refer
their dispute for arbitration.
The judgement given by the
arbitrator is binding on the parties
of dispute.
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Adjudication:
The ultimate legal remedy for the
settlement of an unresolved dispute is
its reference to adjudication by the
government.
The government can refer the dispute to
adjudication with or without the consent
of the disputing parties .
when the dispute is refered to
adjudication with the consent of the
disputing parties , it is called voluntary
adjudication.
when the government herself refers the
dispute to adjudication without consulting
the concerned parties, it is known as
compulsory adjudication.
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The Industrial Disputes act ,1947provides a three-tier machinery for

the adjudication of industrial
disputes.
1.Labour court.
2.Industrial Tribunal.
3.National Tribunal.
1.Labour court:
Under the sec 7 of the Iindustrial
Disputes Act 1947, the appropriate
government by notifying in the
official gazette , may constitute
Labour Court for adjudication of
the industrial disputes.
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The labour court consists of one

independent person who is the presiding
officer or has been
a judge of a high court , or has been
a district judge or additional district
judge for not less than 3 years , or has
been
a presiding officer of a labour court for
not less than 5 years.
The labour court deals with the
matters specified in the second
schedule of the industrial disputes
acts, 1947, these relates to:
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 1. The property or legality of an employer to

pass an order under the standing orders.
2.The application and interpretation of standing
orders
3. Discharge or dismissal of workers including
grant of relief to workmen wrongfully dismissed.
4. withdrawl of any statutory concession or
privilege .
5. Illegality or otherwise of a strike or lockout.
6. All matters other than those reserved for
industrial tribunals.
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Industrial tribunal :
Under the sec 7A of the act , the
appropriate government may constitute
one or more Industrial tribunals for the
adjudication of industrial disputes .
Compare to labour court, Industrial
tribunals have a wider jurisdiction.
An industrial tribunal is also constituted
for a limited period for a particular
dispute on an adhoc basis .
The matter that comes within the
jurisdiction of an industrial tribunal
include the following.
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1. wages , including the period and mode of

payment.
2. compensatory and other allowances.
3.Hours of work and rest period .
4. Leave with wages and holidays.
5.Bonus , profit sharing , provident fund and
gratuity.
6.Classification of grade .
7. Rules of discipline .
8. Rationalisation.
9.Retrenchment of employees and closure
of an establishment or undertaking.
10. Any other matter that can be
prescribed .s
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National tribunal
This is the third one man
adjudicatory body appointed by the
central government by
notification in the official gazette
for the adjudication of industrial
disputes of national importance.
The central government may, if it
thinks, fit, appoint two persons as
assessors to advise the National
Tribunal.
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 When a national tribunal has been

referred to , no labour court or
industrial tribunal shall have any
jurisdiction to adjudicates upon such
matter.

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