INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

APARNA MEENA DIVYA KARDAM JYOTSNA BORGOYARY KANCHAN KANIKA KALYAN

Industrial Relationship
In the words of Lester: "Industrial relations involve attempts at arriving at solutions between the conflicting objectives and values; between the profit motive and social gain; between discipline and freedom, between authority and industrial democracy; between bargaining and co-operation; and between conflicting interests of the individual, the group and the community One of the most comprehensive definitions which views industrial relations from the perspective of human relationships is by J. Henry Richardson: "Industrial relations is an art, the art of living together for purposes of production. The parties while working together learn this art by acquiring the skills of adjustment.

Main Parties in Industrial Relations

In simple words, industrial relations are the outcome of the 'employment relationships' in industry, i.e. between employers and labour. The government of a nation or state influences these relations to a great extent. Thus, there are three main parties in industrial relations:

Workers and their Organizations i.e. Trade Union : The personal characteristics of workers, their culture, educational attainments, qualifications, skills, attitude towards work, etc. play an important role in industrial relations.
Employers and their Organization: The employers are a very important variable in industrial relations. They provide employment to workers and try to regulate their behaviour for getting high productivity from them. In order to increase their bargaining power, employers in several industries have organised employers' associations. These associations put pressure on the trade unions and the Government. Government: The Government or State exerts an important influence on industrial relations through such measures as providing employment, intervening in working relationships. and regulating wages, bonus and working conditions through various laws relating to labour. The Government keeps an eye on. Both the trade unions and employers' organizations to regulate their behaviours in the interest of the nation.

Features of Industrial Relations

Industrial relations are born out of employment relationship in an industrial setting. Without the existence of two parties i.e. labour and management, this relationship cannot exist. It is the industry, which provides the environment for industrial relations. Industrial relations are characterized by both conflict and co-operation. So the focus of industrial relations is on the study of the attitudes, relationships, practices and procedures developed by the contending parties to resolve or at least minimize conflicts. As the labour and management do not operate in isolation but are a part of the large system, so the study of industrial relations also includes vital environmental issues like technology of the workplace, country's socioeconomic and political environment, nation's labour policy, attitude of trade unions, workers and employers. Industrial relations also involve the study of conditions conducive to the labour, management co-operation as well as the practices and procedures required to elicit the desired co-operation from both the parties. Industrial relations also study the laws, rules, regulations, agreements, awards of court, customs and traditions, as well as policy framework laid down by the government for eliciting co-operation between labour and management. Besides this, it makes an in-depth analysis of the intervening patterns of the executive and judiciary in the regulation of labour-management relations.

CHARACTERSTICS OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Industrial relations are outcome of employment relationship in an industrial enterprise. Industrial relations develop the skills and methods of adjusting to and cooperating with each other. Industrial relations system creates complex rules and regulations to maintain harmonious relations. The government-involves to shape the industrial relations through laws ,rules ,agreements ,awards etc. The important factors of industrial relations are: emloyees and their organisations , employer and their organisations and their associations and government.

OBJECTIVES OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

To promote and develop congenial labour management relations. To enhance the economic status of the worker by improving wages, benefits and by helping the worker in evolving sound budget. To regulate the production by minimizing industrial conflicts through state control. To socialize industries by making the government as an employer. To provide an opportunity to the workers to have a say in the management and decision making. To improve worker's strength with a view to solve their problems through mutual negotiations and consultation with the management. To encourage and develop trade unions in order to improve the worker's strength.

To avoid industrial conflict and their consequences. To extend and maintain industrial democracy.

FUNCTIONS OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Communication is to be established between workers and the management in order to bridge the traditional gulf between the two. To establish a rapport between managers and the managed. To ensure creative contribution of trade unions to avoid industrial conflicts, to safeguard the interests of the workers on one hand and the management on the other , to avoid unhealthy, unethical atmosphere in an industry. To lay down such considerations which may promote understanding , creativity and cooperativeness to raise industrial productivity ,to ensure better worker's participation.

How Management and Union operate in an organization

Scope of Industrial Relations

1) Development of Healthy Labour-Management Relations: The promotion of healthy labour management relations pre-supposes: The existence of strong, well-organized, democratic and responsible trade unions and associations of employers. This can lead to:

Job security of employees Increased workers' participation in management

Negotiations, consultations and discussions Good labour-management relations.

2) Maintenance of Industrial Peace: Industrial peace pre-supposes the absence of industrial strife. Industrial peace is essential for increased productivity and harmonious labour-management relations. The industrial peace can be largely nurtured through the following means:

Machinery should be set up for the prevention and settlement of industrial disputes The industrial peace can also be attained by the creation and maintenance of implementation cells and evaluation committees which have the power to look into implementation of agreements, settlements and awards and also violations of statutory provisions laid down under various labour laws.

Scope of Industrial Relations

(iii) Development of Industrial Democracy: The idea of industrial democracy states that the labour should have the right to be associated with the management of an industry. To achieve this objective, the following techniques are usually employed:

Establishment of the Shop Councils and Joint Management Councils at the floor and plant level. These councils aim at:

Improving the working and living conditions of employee

Improving productivity, encourage suggestions from employees Assisting the administration of laws and agreements

Serve as a channel of communication between the management and employees

Creating among the employees a sense of participation in the decisionmaking process and Sense of belonging to the industry.

Contemporary issues in IR
Low Wages. Low wages have been a perennial problem and have been a source of industrial dispute for years despite the existence of Payment of Wages Act and the Minimum Wages Act. The acts do not seem to be solving the problem due to their poor implementation. In many of the factories, workers are still given wages below subsistence level, which leads to high degree of dissatisfaction and subsequent decrease in productivity. In many industries, the minimum wages have not been revised at par to compensate for it. Employment of Women. In the Indian cultural setup, the employment of women is a major problem even though things have started changing in the recent times. There are special provisions regarding the employment of women in the Factories Act, which prohibit employment of women during the night shift and also on heavy machinery. Under the Equal Remuneration Act, women are entitled to equality of wages at par with the male workers. Some employers don't follow the above provisions in letter and spirit and continue to exploit the women workers by virtue of their strong position and because of mass illiteracy and superstition among the women workers. Ignorance and illiteracy. Various labour laws that have beer made would be beneficial to the workers if implemented properly. For this it is important that the workers themselves understand the underlying principles and provisions of the law and demand whatever is due to them. With high rate of ignorance and illiteracy prevailing among the workers, it car be imagined how many of them know about the laws. It is here that the exploitation of workers takes place and legal provisions are ignored totally.

Contemporary issues in IR
Industrial Housing. Another burning issue in the industrial relations field is that of accommodation to the industrial employees. Here the problem is that the firms are not able to provide accommodation to the employees and further that the house rent allowance (HRA) that they provide is not sufficient to keep pace with the ever -rising demands of the landlords Child Labour. The law requires that no child below the age of 14 is allowed to work in any factory and the adolescent is not allowed to work in hazardous conditions. The Supreme Court has passed a ruling strictly prohibiting the employment of children in any kind of factory. But still one finds instances of violation of law.

Measures to Improve IR

Progressive Management out look Strong & Stable Unions Mutual Trust. Mutual Accommodation Sincere Implementation of Agreements Workers participation in Management Sound personnel policies Government's Role.

Media and tools

A. ORAL Telephone system Meetings Public address system B. WRITTEN Letter Internet Report Employee periodicals Bulletin board Presentation