Industrial Relations in India: An OverviewDr. Ajay Singh

Industrial Relations in India(main feature)IR in India is highly regulated (State plays large role)

A series of laws are designed to prevent conflictEmphasizes on protecting workers from employersToo much emphasis on third party interventions (conciliation)Court ruling are often on humanitarian grounds rather than legal grounds

Legal Framework(Central IR Acts)Trade Unions Act, 1926Trade Union (Amendment) Act, 2001

Industrial Dispute Act, 1947

The Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946

Trade Unions in India

Characteristics of Trade Unions in IndiaMultiplicity of UnionClose link of political parties with TU continuesOutside Leadership/membership (used for political ends)Density of union membership varies with industry (very high in manufacturing like steel, engineering, cotton textile, chemicals and in services among banking and insurance; and very low in small industry and construction)Three tier system: National Federations, Industry wide unions and enterprise unions: (there is shift from industry to enterprise unions)

Early History of T. U. in India Earliest TUs organized: Bombay, Calcutta, Madras Industries: Cotton textiles, jute, railways One of 1st lab. orgs.: Bombay Millhands Assn. Formed in 1890: was a welfare organizationMany other such organisations formed between 1887 and 1910 War Years (1914-18) witnessed a spurt of TUs domestic and global influenceGandhis satyagraha: Ahmedabad in 1917: 50% wage hike demanded: RejectionStrike Gandhiji said: 35% fairWM pledged for strike Gandhiji on fast after 3 weeks of strike: Accepted This was 1st major union success: Fillip to unionism

Early History of T. U. in India contd 1st TU: Madras Lab Union (1918: by BP Wadia) Organized WM of Binny Mills Ltd.

TLA: (1920: by Mahatma Gandhi and Ansuyaben Sarabhai by organising workers of Ahmedabad Textile Mills)

Madras Labour Union strike call in 1920 Court declared the strike and the union illegal: Big blow to movt.

AITUC: first TU Federation formed in 1920 Lala Lajpat Rai (then president of INC) became its first President

Binny Mills (Madras HC) case: led to TU Act in 1926 Unionism accepted also due to check spread of communism

TU under the TU Act 19262 (h) Trade Union means any combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the relations between

workmen & employers, or between WM & WM,or between employers and employers,

for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or business,

and includes

any federation of 2 or more TUs:

Salient Features of TU Act 19261. Provides who can register a T.U.: Any 7 or more WM employed in industry/ trade form union Later amended (2001): At least 10% or 100 whichever is less

2. Registrar of TUs: in each state: procedure for registration/ Appeal

3. Minimum subscription: Rs. 1/ 3/ 12 p.a. (currently)4. No restriction on general/political funds of a TU: Thus allows Politicization

5. The Law is silent about craft, category & caste unions Allows all kinds of union formation

Salient Features of TU Act 1926 Cont.6. Rights of TUs: Immunities to registered TU/ Office bearers against certain Civil offences (but now are liable under consumer protection act)7. Workmen in this act covers any person employed to do any kind of work in trade or industryManagers are not explicitly excluded under this ActBoth Registration & Recognition of TU not mandatory under the Act (Some state govts. made law for recg.)

10.Outsiders permitted as TU members/leaders Reduced proportion of outsiders from 50% to one-third (2001)

TU Structure - 1. International LevelInternational level Trade Unions are two kinds:International Trade Union Federations (ITUF) (Federation of representatives from central TU orgs. in several countries)

2.Global Union Federations (GUFs) (Unions belong to a single or related sectors, eg. Metal Workers Union)

International Trade Union Federations of three types:Intl. Confederation of Free TUs (ICFTU) - 1913-most popular in N. America, W. Europe, dev. countries including India-Represents 125 m. TU members org. in 206 national TU centres in 141 countries/ territories

World Federation of TUs (WFTU) -1945 (communist bloc/ unions with communist ideology)

International Federation of Christian Unions

Also there are several regional level TU organisations at international level: European, S. Asian, African.

TU Structure - 2. National LevelAccording to criterion set by Govt. of India:Any Union with minimum of 5,00,000 members spread over four industries and four states will be recognized as national TU Centre.

Five major trade unions which fulfill this criterion:All India TU Congress (AITUC)- Affiliated to CPIBhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS)- close links with RSS & BJPHind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS)- Socialist affiliations, ICFTUCentre for Indian TUs (CITU)- Affiliated to Marxist partyIndian National TU Congress (INTUC)- Affiliated to Congress party

TU Structure in India.cont.TU wings of Regional Political Parties (DMK, AIDMK, Telgu Desam, Trinamul Congress, Shiv Sena, etc.)

Industrial/ Sectoral Federations: (Almost all National TU in India have close to 25 industrial/ sectoral federation each)

Enterprise Level Unions: They are of two kinds in India-Those associated to National centresThose without close affiliation(within enterprise unions there are craft, category and caste wise unions in India)

Managerial Trade Unions (Referred to as Association)(Recognized by govt. and employers as welfare association, not as a TU: Bill for providing junior & middle level managers privileges of workman: not yet passed)

Unions in Crisis: Causes Unipolar world and Post-capitalist society

Unitarist/individualized IR: gold-collar WM

Declining employmentautomation

Emergence of service organizations

New tech.white-collar WMhome working

Emergence of lean organization

More specialization

Decline in core; rise in peripheral workforce

Employment of labour law consultants

Discussion

Questions for Bank of Baroda caseExplain the sequence of the case. How does strategic HRM discourse explain an impressive degree of collaboration between the two rival unions, the officers association and the management, and their coming together on the contentious issue of workers participation in Management?3.What role does leadership play in fostering a participatory culture? Comment on the leadership style of the BOB zonal manager in this regard?Is the enthusiasm shown by the collaborating partners going to be short-lived and confined only to BOB or can it become a way of work life of Madhya Pradesh (MP) zone of Bank of Baroda (BOB) and also be replicated elsewhere in public systems?

Note: You may go beyond the case to find out what is the recent situation in the zone or update information.

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