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CONSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

The Constitution of India has guaranteed some fundamental rights to the citizens and has also laid down

certain directive principles of state policy for the achievement of a social order based on justice, liberty,

equality and fraternity. The Constitution amply provides for the upliftment of labour by guaranteeing

certain fundamental rights to all. Article 14 lays down that the State shall not deny to any person equalitybefore the law or the equal protection of laws. Traffic in human beings and forced labour, and the

employment of children in factories or mines or other hazardous work is prohibited. The directive

principles, though not enforceable by any court, are nevertheless fundamental in the governance of the

country, and it shall be the duty of the State to apply those principles in making laws from time to time. The

Government of India, therefore, enacted a series of legislations to protect the working class from

exploitation and to bring about improvement in their working and living conditions. The goals set in

our country by the Constitution have a bearing on industrial legislation and adjudication.

Labour is in the concurrent list of the Constitution on which both the Centre as well as the States have the

power to make laws. Article 254 has been enacted to clarify the position. Normally, as laid down in Clause

(1), in case of any repugnancy between the Union and the State legislation, the legislation of the Union

shall prevail.

Articles 39, 41, 42 and 43 have a special relevance in the field of industrial legislation and adjudication. In

fact, they are the substratum of industrial jurisprudence.

Article 39 accentuates the basic philosophy of idealistic socialism, which is enshrined in the Preamble of the

Constitution. It provides a motivation force to the directive principles by laying down that the State shall

direct its policy towards equal pay for both men and women.

Article 41 lays down that the State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, makeeffective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of

unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want.

Article 42 enjoins the state government to make provision for securing just and humane conditions of work

and for maternity relief.

Article 43 makes it obligatory for the State to secure by suitable legislation or economic organisation or in

any other manner to all workers, agricultural, industrial,or otherwise, work, a living wage, conditions of

work ensuring a decent standard of life and full enjoyment of leisure and social and cultural

opportunities.Article 43-A makes it obligatory on the State to take steps by suitable legislation or otherwise

to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings and industrial establishments. Abrief discussion regarding the extent to which these provisions had been adopted and enforced in

our country will be in order. Social security is guaranteed in our Constitution under Articles 39, 41 and 43.

The Employees State Insurance Act, 1948 is a pioneering piece of legislation in the field of social insurance.

The Employees State Insurance Scheme provides for benefits in cash except the medical benefit, which is

in kind. The Employees Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 and the Maternity Benefit

Act, 1961 are also social security measures to help fulfill the objectives of directive principles of our


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Constitution. The Provident Fund Scheme aimed at providing substantial security and timely monetary

assistance to industrial employees and their families. The Maternity Benefit Scheme is primarily designed

to provide maternity leave with full wages and security of employment. The object of the Payment of

Gratuity Act, 1972 is to provide a scheme for the payment of gratuity to employees employed in factories,

mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railways, shops and establishments. Besides social security benefits,

efforts have also been made to provide ample opportunities for employment and for workers education.

The Apprentices Act, 1961was enacted to supplement the programme of institutional training by on-the-

job training and to regulate the training arrangements in industry. Employment exchanges play an

important role for the job seekers. The Employment Exchanges (Compulsory Notification of Vacancies) Act,

1969 has made it obligatory on the employers to notify vacancies occurring in their establishments to the

prescribed employment exchanges before they are filled. The voluntary workers education scheme was

launched in our country in 1958 to educate the workers in trade union philosophy and methods, and to

promote physical awareness of problems, privileges and obligations as workers and citizens. Substantial

steps have been taken to fulfill the object of Article 42 of the Constitution. The Factories Act, 1948 provides

for health, safety, welfare, employment of young persons and women, hours of work for adults and

children, holidays and leave with wages. Labour welfare funds have been set-up to provide welfare facilities

to the workers employed in different mines such as coal, mica, iron ore and limestone. The Contract Labour

(Regulation and Abolition) Act of 1970, a piece of social legislation, provides for the abolition of contract

labour wherever possible and to regulate the conditions of contract labour in establishments or

employments where the abolition of contract labour system is not considered feasible for the time being.

Article 43 of the Constitution provides for a living wage. To provide social justice to the unorganized labor

and to prevent exploitation, the Minimum Wages Act, 1948was enacted. It provides for the fixation

of minimum rates of wages by the central or state governments within a specified period for workers

employed in certain scheduled employments. The minimum wage in any event must be paid irrespective of

the capacity of the industry to pay.

ROLE OF LAW IN INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

All systems of industrial relations have a legal framework if they operate within a legal system. The legal

framework may take the form of recognising the development of certain institutions and remove any

impediments to their existence. The role of law in an industrial relations system may be perceived by the

extent to which it attempts to

regulate relationships, the extent to which it is obligatory rather than optional and the attitude of the

parties to the legal system. In India there has been a large degree of agreement on the need for reforms.

Major disagreement, however, exists as to the part that law should play in any scheme of reforms.

Nevertheless, it has been commonly felt that any legislative reform by definition involves the law.The legal

framework within which the industrial relations operates is in a constant state of flux. State and central

legislation affecting industrial relations is a never-ending phenomenon. The three central enactments

which have a bearing on industrial relations in our country are: (a) the Trade Unions Act, 1926; (b) the

Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946; and (c) the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.A detailed

discussion of the above three central enactments is as follows:


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** THE TRADE UNIONS ACT 1926

The Central Government, after consulting Provincial Governments, drew up a Bill providing for the

registration of trade unions, and introduced it in the Assembly on31st August 1925. It was passed on 25th

March 1926, and Indian Trade Unions Act,1926 was brought into force on 1st June 1927. The Act extends to

the whole country.It is divided into 33 Sections and contains 5 chapters. Certain acts do not apply toregistered trade unions, namely:i)The Societies Registration Act, 1860;ii)The Co-operative Societies Act,

1912; andiii)The Companies Act, 1956.

Object of the Act

The main object of the Act is to provide for the registration of trade unions and to give registered trade

unions a legal and corporate status, and immunity to their officers and members from civil and criminal

liability for legitimate trade union activities.

Definitions

Appropriate Government:It means, in relation to trade unions whose objects are notconfined to one State,

the Central Government, and in relation to other trade unions,the State Government.

Executive:It means the body, by whatever name called; to which the management of the affairs of a trade

union is entrusted.

Office-Bearer:It includes any member of the executive thereof, but does not include an auditor.

Trade Dispute:It means any dispute between employers and workmen, or workmen and workmen, or

employers and employers, which is connected with the employment or non-employment or the terms of

employment or the conditions of labour, of any person. This definition is almost similar to the definition of

the term industrial dispute under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Workmen:It includes all persons employed in trade or industry whether or not in the employment of the

employer with whom the trade dispute arises.

Trade Union:It means a combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed:i)primarily for the purpose

of regulating the relations between workmen and employers; or between workmen and workmen; or

between employers and employers; orii)for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade or

business, and includes any federation of two or more trade unions. The Act, however, does not affect

i)Any agreement between partners as to their own business; ii)Any agreement between an employer

and those employed by him as to suchemployment; oriii)Any agreement in consideration of the sale of thegoodwill of business or of instruction in any profession, trade or handicraft.In common parlance, a trade

union means an association of workers in a particular craft or industry. However, the expression trade

union under the Act includes both employers and workers organisations. Employers organisations can

also be registered as trade unions. The intention behind this is to place both on a par in matters of rights

and responsibilities. It is primarily the object of an association or combination which determines whether it

is a trade union or not.


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Object of the Act

The Preamble to the Act reads: An Act to make provision for the investigation and settlement of industrial

disputes and for certain other purposes.On the basis of various judgements given from time to time by the

Supreme Court, the principal objectives of the Act may be stated as follows: a)To ensure social justice to

both employers and employees and advance the progress of industry by bringing about harmony and acordial relationship between the parties. b)To settle disputes arising between capital and labour by

peaceful methods and through the machinery of conciliation, arbitration and, if necessary, by approaching

the tribunals constituted under the Act. If disputes are not settled,there would be strikes or lockouts which

would entail dislocation of work,essential to the life of the community. c)To promote measures for

securing and preserving amity and good relations between the employer and workmen. d)To prevent illegal

strikes and lockouts. e)To provide compensation to workmen in cases of lay-off, retrenchment andclosure.

f)To protect workmen against victimisation by the employer and to ensure termination of industrial

disputes in a peaceful manner. g)To promote collective bargaining.

Constitutional and legal framework of Industrial Relations.:--

**For long several commissions and commissions debated reforms to industrial relations seeking to amend

trade union act to make registration requirements relatively more stringent than at present (from any 7

being able to form a union proposed to be revised to 100 or 10% of the employees), provide for statutory

mechanism for recognition, deny industrial relations to unregistered/minority unions, and specify more

clearly not only trade union rights, but also trade union obligations/responsibilities. The Dispute Act is also

proposed to be amended to provide for more emphasis on relations than disputes and set up an

independent Industrial Relations Commission in the place of existing dispute resolving machinery.

Proposals have also been made to consider constitution-negotiating councils where there is more than one

union.

The central law, Trade Unions Act, 1926 provides for trade union registration, not trade union recognition.

By convention, all registered unions have begun to have industrial relations rights, de facto, though not de

jure. With the law permitting any seven employees being able to form and register a union, the ground was

open for a variety of craft, category, caste, etc., based unions. Labour being a concurrent subject, certain

state governments (like Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh) have passed separate legislations

provided mandatory mechanism for trade union recognition. Certain states like Andhra Pradesh made

secret ballot a must. But statutory provisions concerning union recognition did not, unfortunately, ease

conflict on this count. The biggest strike in post-independence India occurred in the Bombay Textile

Industry in 1982 over the issue of, primarily, representative character of two rival unions. A variety of

methods are available for determining the representative union. It can be done through any of the

following methods: secret ballot, check-off of membership verification. Union shop method is not prevalent

in India. However, selection of representative union for recognition as collective bargaining agent which is

necessary to engage in collective bargaining has itself become a major problem because different national

federations of trade unions did not agree to a common methods and left the problem for settlement

according to location realities! Even the National Labour Commission has left it vaguely. Proposals to alter

the situation, along with other major changes in the Trade Unions Act have become abortive since 1978.


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In India, the role of national federations of trade unions and employers' organisations is limited, in

collective bargaining, to a small nucleus of industrial associations which have a long tradition of collective

negotiations with their counterpart trade union federations of workers. Among such employer associations,

notable mention may be made of the Ahmedabad Mill Owners' Association, Ahmedabad, the Bombay Mill

Owners' Association, Bombay, the Indian Sugar Mills Association, New Delhi, the Tea Association of India,

Calcutta, the Indian Jute Mills Association, Calcutta, the Cement Manufacturers' Association, New Delhi, the

United Planters Association of South India, coonoor, the Southern India Mill Owners' Association,

Coimbatore, the Indian Banks Association, Bombay and the Indian Port Association, New Delhi. The

confederation of Indian Industry, which till last year (1991) represented mainly the engineering Industry,

which negotiating region-cum-industry agreements for member firms who assigned to them in writing such

responsibility.

"The role of industry associations in collective bargaining seem to vary depending upon the profile and

background of industry and entrepreneurship. In a traditional, the engineering industry, profession

managers are the charge of variations in processes and outcomes are discernible in each case which merit

detailed study."

In some Industrial centres, both trade unions and employers, particularly have set up coordination

committees to adopt a joint/collective strategy to deal with collective bargaining and related matters. This

process has started in Bangalore and Hyderabad and spread to other places. Industry wise coordination is

also taking place with the commencement of industry wide agreements in core sectors like coal and steel.

Oil industry, all of which is in public sector now, also has a coordination committee though it does not have

an industry wide agreement.

For public employees, Joint Consultative Machinery and Board of Arbitration have been constituted. Public

pay is revised through pay commissions which are usually adopted once every 12 years or so. The

significant gap between central government pay systems and industrial pay systems created considerable

heartburn and discontent to those who feel they were adversely affected particularly in the wake of some

Supreme Court judgments pronouncing public sector as the State.

In a few industries such as cement arbitration has replaced collective bargaining over wages and working

conditions while in others like media (newspapers) and sugar wage boards still decide the wages and

working conditions. In all other cases, with all its distortions, collective bargaining is the main mechanism

through which wages and working conditions are decided. Over the years, the scope of collective

bargaining has been widened to include virtually every possible aspect of working relation including the

quantum of overtime, shift manning, discipline promotions and transfers, for instance. An industrial society

is highly complex and dynamic arrangement of differentiated groups, activities and institutional

relationships intertwined with a variety of attitudes ad expectations. Consequently, any specific social

phenomenon, such as industrial relations, cannot and should not be viewed in isolation from its wider

context. The 'context' of industrial relations may usefully be divided into three major elements


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**Quality of Work Life (QWL)

The issue of quality of work life is related to the need for organised labour and management to work co-

operatively toward the goal of greater productivity. The attention now being paid to the QWL reflects the

growing importance being attached to it. It is apparent that a substantial number of employees are

unhappy with their jobs and are demanding more meaningful work. Employees are beginning to demandimprovements in both economic and non-economic benefits from their jobs. The importance of non-

economic rewards is increasing relative to the importance of economic ones, especially among white-collar

and highly educated employees. People are demanding greater control and involvement in the jobs. They

do not want to be treated as a cog in a wheel. QWL experiments will continue in the years ahead and may

eventually provide some impetus to the collective bargaining across countries.

**Technological Changes

The inter-relationship between technological change and industrial relations time and again has been the

focus of attention of groups in society. Technology has an impact on labour management issues such as

manpower, job security, and training redndancy. All the three parties in industrial relations are closely

concerned with the effects of technology. Technological change raises sensitive industrial relations issues,

especially where it involves work intensification, rationalisation or reductions in employment. Industrial

relations issues, especially relating to employment levels and work organisation, were seen as important in

deciding upon new plant, machinery or equipment. Technological change affects the work environment

and alters the relationiship between tile employers and employees. It affects labour in two ways, economic

and social. The first category consists of redundancy, occupational adjustment, allocation of gains, and

transfer and retraining problems. The second category includes psychological factors such as resistance to

change, job satisfaction, and worker and union relations

EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT

Employee empowerment is a strategy and philosophy that enables employees to make decisions about

their jobs. Employee empowerment helps employees own their work and take responsibility for their

results. Employee empowerment helps employees serve customers at the level of the organization where

the customer interface exists.

Significance

Some employers tend to forget that their hired hands also have brains. By using the minds of their

employees, organizations are able to meet projected goals and objectives a lot faster because there are

more people working toward them. Being able to delegate certain responsibilities to your employees will

allow you more time to focus on the areas of your organization where your attention might be needed

more.


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