Industrial Grievances

8/3/2019 Industrial Grievances

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Presented by:

Apoorv DevganDivya TripathiJitin Goel

Rahul MishraSarah Kazmi

Vanya Chandel


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GRIEVANCEA grievance is always a symbol of some

malfunctioning or maladjustment.

Grievance means any type ofdissatisfaction or discontentments arisingout of factors related to an employees jobwhich he thinks are unfair. A grievance

arises when an employee feels thatsomething has happened or is happeningto him which he thinks is unfair, unjust orinequitable


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ILO DEFINITION Grievances are defined as breaches of

the collective agreement, custom and

practice, the statute law, common law,natural justice or as any problem of asufficient nature to cause a disturbanceof the workplace equilibrium.


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Factors causing grievances:Violation of managements responsibility such as poor

working conditions.

Violation of companys rules and regulationsViolation of labour laws

Violation of natural rules of justice such as unfairtreatment in promotion, etc.


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SOURCES OF GRIEVANCEMANAGEMENT POLICIES

Wage rates

Leave policy

Overtime

Lack of career planning

Role conflicts

Lack of regard for collective agreement

Disparity between skill of worker and job responsibility


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working conditions Poor safety and bad physical conditions

Unavailability of tools and proper machinery

Negative approach to discipline Unrealistic targets


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Inter-personal factors Poor relationships with team members

Autocratic leadership style of superiors

Poor relations with seniors Conflicts with peers and colleagues


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TYPES OF GRIEVANCE Individual Grievance

Most grievances affect one individual member and

are therefore signed by them. Even by filing anindividual grievance, your steward ishelping all members by defending the agreement andthe rights of all those covered

by the agreement.


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Group Grievance Several members have been affected in the same way

at the same time, so a grievance is filed for the entiregroup. For example, management changes the starttime for all day-shift workers.


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Policy Grievance Here the union, and not the individual files the

grievance. This occurs when management is either inviolation of the collective agreement or incorrectly

interprets it, which may affect all members in thefuture. For example, management assigns a dayworker to work on an "off-shift" without regardto seniority. Even if the worker has no objection, theunion may file a grievance to establish and insure thatseniority be respected in such cases.


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Principles of Grievance Handling Principles suggested by the Indian Institute of Personnel

Management for addressing the grievance are as follows:

a) A grievance should be dealt within the limits of the first linesupervisor.

b) The appellate authority should be made clear to the employee sothat if he cannot get satisfaction from his immediate supervisor,he should know the next step.

c) The grievance should be dealt with speed.d) In establishing a grievance procedure, if the grievance is against

an instruction given by a superior in the interest of order anddiscipline, the instructions must be carried out first and thenonly employee can register his protest


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Recording the GrievanceA complaint formally enters the grievance procedure

when it is presented in writing. The steward, whonormally has the responsibility for submitting thegrievance for writing to the union, should checkcarefully to make sure the Six W's - WHO, WHEN,WHERE, WHY WHAT and WITNESSES of thegrievance form are covered.


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WHO: Refers to the employee filing the grievance andthe supervisor (if any) involved.

WHEN: Refers to the time element. Ofteninformation regarding more than one date is needed

to complete the form properly: (1) the date on whichthe grievance is officially written; (2) the time and dateon which the grievance actually happened; (3) the dateon which the grievance was submitted to theimmediate supervisor (first or informal step of the

grievance procedure); and, (4) the date on which theimmediate supervisor gave a decision.


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WHERE: Refers to the exact place where the grievance tookplace - the department, aisle, office, terminal or plant.

WHY: Refers to the reason the complaint is considered agrievance. The WHERE and WHY are described under thesection "Statement of Grievance" and must be clearly stated to

obtain a clear picture of the facts. It is important to rememberthat it is possible to have a legitimate grievance without beingable to point to a violation of a specific clause of the contract.

WHAT: Refers to what should be done about the grievance - thecorrective action desired and what adjustment is expected.

WITNESSES: If a particular incident took palace which gave riseto the grievance, the names of any witnesses who say whatoccurred should be listed on the grievance form. This shouldinclude the address and phone number of all witnesses.


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DISCIPLINARY ACTION For every misconduct and act of indiscipline, a

manager will have to take disciplinary action

against the concerned employee. However, there isno hard and fast rule to deal with indiscipline.

The positive approach to discipline calls for self-discipline.


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To institute this kind of positive discipline among thesubordinates the manager must ensure that:

1) Rules and regulations are reasonable, legitimate andclear.2) Subordinates are involved in framing rules and

regulations so that they willingly accept them.3) Prior and clear notice is given of the consequences of

breaking rules.4) There is consistency and uniformity of punishment.5) Human personality is treated with dignity.6)He or she, as a manager, should set high standards.


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Informal Warning:

When someone is not performing satisfactorily or is misbehaving at work the

first priority should be to help them to improve. Have an informal discussion of

the problem with them. Make sure they understand what they are doing wrong

and what they have to do to come up to standard. To remind yourself, make a

brief note of the date on which the issue was discussed and what action was

agreed.


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Formal Warning

If the issue isnt resolved or the matter is very serious, you should tackle the

matter more formally. Invite the employee to a meeting and have a formal

discussion with him or her. The employee has the right to be accompanied

by a colleague or trade union representative. If you are not satisfied with the

employees explanation you should write the employee a letter setting outthe problem, what you expect him or her to do about it, when you expect to

see an improvement and what you will do if there is no improvement. Where

the employees poor performance or misconduct is sufficiently serious, for

example because it is having a serious harmful effect on the business, it may

be appropriate to issue a final written warning.


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If the situation still does not improve, and you feel further action

against the employee is necessary you should start the standardprocedure.

The three steps are:

i. The written statement.

ii. The hearing

iii. The appeal meeting


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The Written Statement

You must prepare a statement setting out what the employee hasdone, or failed to do that may result in disciplinary action or dismissal.

A copy of this statement must be sent to the employee and you mustarrange a meeting to discuss the matter.


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The Hearing

When arranging the meeting, bear in mind that: The meeting should be far enough ahead that the employee has had time to think

about the written statement but it should not be delayed for too long. The employee

has a duty to take all reasonable steps to attend.

The employee has a statutory right to be accompanied to the meeting by a workmate

or a trade union representative.

The meeting must be at a reasonable time and in a convenient location. If the

employee or person accompanying them is disabled you must take this into account

and make reasonable provision to ensure that they can participate fully.

If you havent already done so before writing, ensure you have carried out a

thorough investigation of all the relevant circumstances of the case and communicate

them to the individual before the meeting.

After the meeting you should decide what to do and tell the employee what your

decision is. At the same time you must offer the employee the opportunity to appeal

against that decision if it goes against him or her.


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The Appeal Meeting

If the employee wants to appeal he or she must inform you. You should then

arrange a meeting to hear the appeal. If possible a manager more senior than the

manager who held the disciplinary hearing should hold the appeal meeting. If the

size of your firm makes this impossible you will need to make an extra effort to deal

with the matter impartially. Following the appeal meeting you must inform theemployee of your decision, making clear that it is final.


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SUSPENSIONSuspension means prohibiting an employee from performing the duties

assigned to him or her and withholding wages for so long as that prohibition

continues. During the period of such prohibition the contract of

employment between an employer and the employee is said to be under

suspension, and the employee is said to have been suspended. In other

words, suspension does not mean termination of service but only denial of

work for some time, with or without pay, whatever the contract between

the employee and employer permits. Procedural suspension is not

considered as a punishment. Such suspension is made when disciplinary

action is initiated or is about to be initiated against a person for anymisconduct which may warrant any major penalty like discharge or

dismissal.


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DISMISSAL The most severe disciplinary penalty is dismissal. Normally you

should only dismiss if - during the entire disciplinary process -you have:

issued warnings

made it clear that if the employee has failed to improve theirconduct or performance they could be dismissed

For gross misconduct you may be able to dismiss immediatelywithout giving notice or pay in lieu of notice. However, summarydismissal is generally not recommended.

Ideally, for any misconduct - gross or otherwise - you should: investigate the incident fully

suspend the employee on full pay during the investigation wherenecessary


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METHODS TO TACKLE GRIEVANCES

Informal

Method

Open Door Policy Step ladder policyFormalMethod


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Resolvegrievancesinformally often a

quiet wordis all that

is needed

Use your

grievanceprocedurewhen it is

notpossible orappropriat

e to

resolve thematterinformally

Employee tolet theemployer

know thegrievance in

writing

Meeting to

discuss thegrievance

Decide onappropriateaction

Allow theemployee toappeal if notsatisfied


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INFORMAL METHOD Employees should aim to settle most grievances

informally with their line manager.

Many problems can be raised and settled during thecourse of everyday working relationships.

This also allows for problems to be settled quickly.


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FORMAL METHOD Grievance procedure is a formal communication

between an employee and the management designedfor the settlement of a grievance.

The formal grievance procedures differ fromorganization to organization.

These should be set down in writing, be specific and

clear.


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OPEN DOOR POLICY Under this policy, the aggrieved employee is free to

meet the top executives of the organization and get hisgrievances redressed.

A place where everyone's voice is heard, where issuesare promptly raised and resolved, and wherecommunication f lows across all levels of the company.


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OPEN DOOR POLICY Such a policy works well only in small organizations.

However, in bigger organizations, top managementexecutives are usually busy with other concernedmatters of the company.


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OPEN DOOR POLICY


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STEP LADDER POLICY Under this policy, the aggrieved employee has to

follow a step by step procedure for getting hisgrievance redressed.

Whenever an employee is confronted with a grievance,he presents his problem to his immediate supervisor.

If the employee is not satisfied with superiors

decision, then he discusses his grievance with thedepartmental head


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STEP LADDER POLICY The departmental head discusses the problem with

joint grievance committees to find a solution.

However, if the committee also fails to redress thegrievance, then it may be referred to chief executive.

If the chief executive also fails to redress thegrievance, then such a grievance is referred to

voluntary arbitration where the award of arbitrator isbinding on both the parties.


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GRIEVANCE PROCEDURE IN INDIAN

INDUSTRY In the 16th session of Indian Labour Conference, a model

for grievance procedure was drawn up. This model helps increation of grievance machinery.

Workers representatives are to be elected for adepartment.

Management has to specify the persons in each departmentwho are to be approached first and the departmental heads

who are supposed to be approached in the second step. The Model Grievance Procedure specifies the details of all

the steps that are to be followed while redressinggrievances.


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Employee Relation Relatively few problems with its labour force

Great amount of trust

Same uniform Same canteen

High employee satisfaction in 80s and 90s; highersalaries


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The car market in India become highly competitive inlate 1990s with almost all major players entering theIndian market with manufacturing of various models.

So company suffered a decline of market share. AsMarutis salary structure comparatively higher thanmost manufacturing companies, due to thiscompetition and decline in profit, the company could

not live up to the expectations of the employees. As aresult worker unrest started to grow in the company.


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Major reasons behind labour

unrest In the late 90s, Maruti had begun to feel the effects of

competition in automobile industry

With the change in management in mid- 1990s, whenit became predominantly government controlled for awhile, and the conflict between the Governmentand Suzuki may have been the cause of unrest amongemployees.

When Management-Union talks broke down inSeptember 2000, the workers start agitation: blackbadges to start with, and later, hunger strikes, tooldown strikes etc.


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The management introduced a scheme, where incentivespaid would be dependent upon the sales of thecompany both of cars and spare parts, which are not

accepted by the union because productivity incentive couldnot be connected with car sales since that were notsomething the workers could determine.

Introduction ofSCANLON type incentive scheme. Theunion demanded reinstatement of the original incentive

scheme which had been in place prior to 1995, according towhich 65% of all savings in labour-cost above the norm set(at 41.5 cars per worker per year) was to be distributed to

workers as an incentive bonus.


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Deathof three persons in October 2000

Mandatory requirement of signing a good conductundertaking


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Worker grievances In September 2000 the Maruti Udyog Employees

Union went on an indefinite strike if their demandswere not met. The employees were demanding

a new incentive scheme,

improved pension scheme,

better work environment

and filling up of supervisory vacancies.However the management refused to accede to these

demands.


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Production fell by around 40 % for a period of 3months. During this period the engineers at themanagerial positions manned the assembly lines to

ensure that production does not stop completely. However, the government decided not to interfere

directly and the management insisted that the workersstop the agitation and agree to adhere to the code ofconduct specified by them.


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The strike ended in January 2001 with the unionmembers agreeing to by the code of conduct. Abouthalf of the employees (40) suspended/terminated

during the course of the agitation were not taken backon duty. Thus the management retained the upperhand after the strike ended and the work culture atMaruti changed significantly after this.


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Changes at Maruti The sense of job security that the workers enjoyed at

Maruti diminished. In subsequent years a number ofnon-performers were asked to opt for a voluntary

Retirement (VRS) and by introducing VRS, 1251 jobswere reduced.

De-recognized Maruti Udyog Employees Union(MUEU) by dismissing the union members and the

MUEU was not allowed to conduct a single generalbody meeting after the lockout and recognized newunion called Maruti Kamgar Union and it was set up inDecember 2000 with 28 members.


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The company started relying more on casual(contractual) labor to decrease its costs.

The proportion of variable performance based pay outof the total increased significantly.


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Conclusion lack of collective bargaining.

the absence of convincing response from themanagement.

workers lacked the work ethics. Unlike the Japaneseand Korean workers, Indian workers did not care aboutthe impact of their agitation on the viability of thecompany and the attitude of customers.


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Instead.

Management should have been more sensitive tolabour and labour should have been equally concernedabout the product market development.

Win-win situation would be based on the approachwhere management ceased to insist on good conductundertaking and let the workers go to work gracefullyand if the union took a long term view of thecompanys viability and competitiveness, moderatedits scheme based on a composite criteria ofproductivity.


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Industrial Grievances

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