Industrial Disputes and Strikes

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 Industrial Disputes
• When conflict acquires a concrete and
specific manifestation, it becomes an
industrial dispute.
• Industrial Dispute may be said to be
disagreement or controversy between
management and labour with respect to
wages, working conditions, other
employment matters or union recognition.

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 Strikes and Lock-outs
• Strikes and lock-outs are the methods adopted
by workers and employers respectively, to settle
their differences
• When workers fail to secure a redressal of their
grievances and fulfillment of their demands by
peaceful negotiations with the employer, they try
to force the employer to come to a settlement by
temporarily withdrawing their services in the
form of a strike.
• On the contrary employers resort to lock-outs to
achieve their goals.

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• Strikes and lock-outs are not to be identified with
industrial disputes.
• They are not disputes in themselves; they are
just one way of settling disputes for time being.

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 What is a Strike???
• A strike may be defined as a concerted and
temporary cessation of work by workers with
a view to furthering or protecting their
interests and rights, in general, and securing
a fulfillment of their specific demands in
particular.
OR
• We can say that basic ingredients of strike
are:
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 A strike involves a combined withdrawal of their
services by workers.
 The cessation of work is for a temporary period;
work is to be resumed whenever the strikers feel
like doing so.
 The cessation of work in a strike has certain
objectives.
• The interest and rights the workers may seek to
promote and protect through strikes may relate
to
I. Terms and conditions of employment of the
strikers or of other workmen.
II. Political and social interest
III.Showing solidarity of the working class.
IV.Any issue which the workers may consider
worth striking for.
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Forms of Strike

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 Authorised and Unauthorised
Strikes
An authorised strike is one which is called only after the
union has given its consent.

A wild-cat strike is
sometimes an emotional
outburst caused by any
sudden provocative
action on part of the
management or
supervisors.

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An unauthorised strike , commonly known as a wild-cat strike, is one which is
called without the approval of the union.
 General and Particular Strikes
General Strike Particular Strike
• A general strike has a wide • Particular strike are
coverage , but the degree of
generality or the nature of
limited in scope and are
coverage varies considerably usually confined to a
from strike to strike. single plant or a few
• Example: a strike covering a plants and to a single
wide range of industries and trade or occupation in a
all or a large part of a country
like….gujrat bandh particular town or city.
• Example: Plant level
union strikes.

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 Types Based on Techniques
• Slow-down Strike: workers do not actually
stop working, rather they slow down the pace
of their work.
• Quickie Strike: workers remain in their place
of work, but they stop work for a brief period,
that is, for a few minutes or a few hours.
• Sit-down Strike: workers remain in their place
of work but they do not work.
• Work-to-rule: the employees declare that they
will perform their tasks strictly in accordance
with the rules prescribed.
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• Ordinary Strike: workers formally quit their
places of work and prevent others, occasionally
by violence but mostly by persuasion.

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 Types based on Generic
Purposes
• Sympathetic Strike: it is conducted out of
sympathy for the cause of another group of
workers, whether on strike or not. Thus, the
workers resorting to a sympathetic strike have
no immediate grievance against their employer.
• Jurisdictional Strike: these are conducted with
a view to force an employer to recognise or
bargain with a particular trade union instead of
another. Two unions may claim to represent the
same set of workers and may clamour for
recognition for this purpose.

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• Political Strike: Strikes of this sort are intended
to put pressure on the government to do
something or desist from doing something.
Example: bandhs
• General Strikes: A general strike may be a part
of a revolutionary movement.

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 Gherao
• It is one of the methods designed to exert
pressure for the fulfillment of demands.
• The practice involves confinement of authorities
(often managerial personnel) in their offices, by
the workers.
• This can last for hours or even days, and they
are prevented from going out pending the
fulfillment of the demands.

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• Acc. to National Commission of Labour, gheraos
“cannot be treated as a form of industrial protest
since they involve physical coercion rather than
economic pressure.”
• The Commission , however, did not suggest any
concrete measures for discouraging the practice
and contented itself by saying “ It is the duty of
union leaders…to condemn this form of labour
protest as harmful to the interest of the working
class.”
• An amendment of the Industrial Dispute Act in
1982, included gherao in the list of unfair
practices on the part of workmen and their trade
unions and prohibited it.
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Factors Conditioning The
Outcomes of Strikes

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• A strike is a trail of strength between workers
and the employer and the outcome of strike
depends on the relative strength of the union
and the employer.
• This relative strength is determined by a
number of factors which may be discussed
under three heads:
1. Factors operating on the side of the union
2. Factors operating on the side of employer
3. General factors

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• On the side of the union:
1. Extent of unionisation
2. Composition of union membership
3. Union finances
4. Substitutability of the services of the strikers
5. Union leadership
6. The morale of the workers
7. Support from other unions
8. The history of past strikers.

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• On the side of the Employer:
1. Economic position of the enterprise
2. Attitude of the employer
3. Availability of alternative ways to produce the
goods and services
4. Support available from other employers
• General factors:
1. Prevailing economic climate
2. Policy of the government
3. Public opinion
4. Composition of the labour force

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Effects of Strikes

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• The effects of a strike primarily depend on:
a. Number of workers involved in the strike
b. Its duration
c. Nature of the stuck product or service.
• In general the possible effects may be
classified under the following three heads:
a. Effects on the parties to the strike
b. Effects on others
c. Effects on the society as a whole

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 Effect on the Parties to the
Strike
a. On the employer:
ii. Loss of profit
iii. Loss of market connections
iv. Goodwill may be lost
v. Idle machines may get spoilt
vi. Expenditure may have to be incurred on
protecting the plant and on strike breaking
activities
vii. Loss of mental peace, respect and status in
community
viii. Cost may be incurred on publicity
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b. Effects on the Workers:
• Losses for workers depend on the following:
i. How many strikers obtain other work during
the strike period?
ii. How far do the strikers make up their losses
by working more, after work is resumed?
iii. How many remain unemployed in case the
strike fails?
iv. What strike benefits are available to the
strikers out of the union funds and donations
from outside?

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• Strikes causes adverse effects like contracting of
debts or buying goods and services on credit at
higher prices, disruptions in the family life,
personal hardships, tortures and tensions.

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 Effects on Others
• Consumers of the struck products
• Suppliers of the struck firm
• Suppliers of goods and services to the strikers.

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 Effects on the Society as a Whole
• With the development of industry-wide trade
unions and collective bargaining, industry wide
strikes have become very common.
• Industry wide strike completely deprives the
consumer of the product of that industry.
• If the industry happens to be a basic one, the
impact on the economy and the consumers is
very serious.

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Thank You

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