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 Organisations 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 Organisation: 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' organisations 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 union, 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 socio-
economic and political environment, nation's labour policy, attitude of trade
unions, workers and employers.

 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.
How Management and Union operate
in an organisation
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 decision-

making 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 been 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.
Approaches to industrial relations

Unitary Pluralistic Marxist

Authoritarian Co-operation Evolution

Paternalism Conflict Revolution

Approaches to industrial relations

Input Conversion Output

Institutions
Conflict Regulation
and
(differences) (rules)
processes

Human Systems Social action Control of

resource the labour
management process
Wider approaches to industrial relations

Labour market Comparative

Unitarism

- Management & staff strive together for common

purpose
- One source authority
- Harmony & co-operation
- Conflict is pathological, whether mischief or
misunderstanding
- Troublemakers conform/go
- Unions unwelcome
Pluralism

- Company made up of different interest groups

- Organisation = miniature democracy
“Negotiated order”
- Conflict inevitable, legitimate & accepted
- Unions – recognised negotiator
Marxism

Industrial relations is a microcosm of broader

capitalist society.
Opposing interests of different
classes. Asymmetry of power based
on ownership.
An employer can survive longer without labour than
an employee can survive without work.
However, employer can never secure total control
or achieve complete power.
 ADVERSARIAL IR

UNION MANAGEMENT
Strike Lockout
Bans Injunction
Boycott Strike breakers
Picket Employer
associations
Industrial tribunal Industrial tribunal
 HRM AND IR

• HRM presents a direct challenge to

traditional IR centred on conflict
inevitability, government intervention and
employee representation.
• Considerable opposition to HRM.
 THEORY, HRM AND IR

HRM contributes in:

• theory and research on management as an
initiator of change - more acceptable
• frameworks for understanding enterprise-
level relations – vs centralised rewards
• frameworks for understanding direct and
informal management vs indirect/formal
ie. Employee Relations
 PARTIES IN
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Three major parties: government, employer

associations and trade unions.

ARBITRATION The submission of a dispute to a

third party for a binding decision

AWARDS Written determinations setting out

the legally enforceable terms and
conditions of employment.
 Important Historical Milestones

C18th Industrial Revolution begins U.K.

Early C19th Series of statutory decisions making

TU’s illegal

1868 British Trade Union Congress (TUC) founded

1871-1906 Pro-union legislation in the UK

1894 Irish Trade Union Congress (ITUC) founded

1909 Irish Transport Workers Union (ITWU)

1913 The Dublin Lockout

1916- 1922 British unions break away

1946 Set up of the Labour Court

1880’s Gradual decline in union membership

1987 Social Partnership Agreements

1871 – 1906 U.K. Parliament:

- granted legality to T.U.’s

- protected Union funds from court action

- recognised collective bargaining

- legalised peaceful picketing