Y



 
    
Y


 
‡ Negotiation about working conditions and terms of employment
between an employer, a group of employers or one or more
employers¶ organizations, on the one hand, and one or more
representative workers¶ organizations on the other with a view to
reaching agreement (Ô


V

‡ Objective of collective bargaining is to come to an agreement.

‡ Process of collective bargaining is that divergent viewpoints are put

forth by the parties concerned, and through negotiations, a
settlement is arrived at.

 Y


 

Ô. Plant Level

Basic or micro level unit

Negotiations conducted between management of the plant &
union(sV of the plant

Pioneers in this field are Tata Ôron & Steel Co. Ltd. And Tata
Workers Union (JamshedpurV

 Y


  

ÔÔ. Ôndustry Level

Broader in scope as compared to Plant level

Several units in same industry band together & form an
association, which negotiates with a union having a similar
status

Ôn Ahmedabad, the Mill owners Association negotiates with
the recognized union, the Textile Labour Association(TLAV

 Y


 

ÔÔÔ. National Level

Scope much wider, however uncommon in Ôndia

Representatives of the trade union & the employer negotiate
and arrive at a settlement

Example, 1956 agreement on bonus for plantation workers
between the representatives of the Ôndian Tea Planters
Association and Ôndian Tea Association and representatives
of HMS. This was a tripartite conference/agreement
convened by the Government of Ôndia.
]  
  Y


 


Progress of the Collective Bargaining process is not very

encouraging in Ôndia. Most of the unions and management lay
emphasis on adjudication rather sorting out issues themselves.
Several factors are responsible for this:

‡ Multiple unions
‡ Non-recognition
‡ Political orientation
‡ Defective laws
‡ Mediation by political leader
Y    


 
½
 

 

Basic wages Ôncentives,

Ôndividual plans Job context
Group plans Challenging job
Responsibilities
Growth prospects
Supervision
Fringe benefits
Working conditions
P.F. Perquisites Job sharing etc
Medical care Car
Accident relief Club membership
Health and Paid holidays
Group insurance Furnished house
Stock option scheme
Y


     
 
‡ Significant feature of collective bargaining is the wages
that will be paid for the work done by the employees
‡ union is rarely involved in setting the original job rates;
management does this
‡ union is actually involved in enhancing, or, at least,
preventing a decrease of wages
‡ major criteria used by unions and management in setting
wage levels can be classified as:
(iV measures of equity;
(iiV measures of need; and
(iiiVmeasures of contribution
Y


     
  
‡ Most commonly used criteria in setting wage levels:
@ Comparable wages
@ Cost of living
@ The living wage
@ Ability to pay
@ Productivity
@ Purchasing power
‡ Another area of significance is that of productivity bargaining and
has gained increasing attention in the Ôndian industrial relations
system.
‡ Ôn such agreements advantages such as higher wages or
increased leisure are given to workers for accepting changes
on established work practices and organization of work itself,
thus reducing/eliminating waste and leading to more effective
working
Y


     
  
‡ Randle and Wortman state: ³ Productivity usually refers to output in
physical units per man-hour of work. Ôt is a measure of the
relationship between the volume of goods produced and one factor
of input-labour time.´
‡ However, labour is only an input and there are several other
variables such as ³ more efficient utilization of fuel, more
economical materials; technical improvements in machines; in
organization and in processes; the skill and effort of the work force;
the efficiency of management and the state of Labour Relations´.
‡ Ôncreased productivity is usually reflected in increased ability to
pay and therefore industries with high or increasing productivity
are generally able to pay high wages.
Y


     
  
‡ Ôn Ôndia, collective bargaining as one of the methods of
wage fixation has been adopted in many industries.
‡ Most of the agreements are at the plant level, though
some significant industry level agreements have also
been concluded
‡ Apart from dealing with issues relating to wage matters,
collective agreements cover a wide range of aspects of
employment from recruitment to retirement.
Ú  Y


 
‡ Wage matters
‡ Wages Bonus
‡ Overtime Paid holidays
‡ Paid sick leave Safety wear
‡ Production norms
‡ Hours of work Performance appraisal
‡ Workers¶ participation in management Hiring
‡ Fixing of job evaluation norm and Modernization.
Y


     
Ú 


-CB is a process by which the terms and condition of employment of workers are
regulated by agreements between their bargaining agent and their employers.
 Negotiation, on the other hand, is a process of resolving conflicts between
two or more parties wherein both or all modify their demands to reach a workable
compromise.

-The process of CB also uses negotiations to reach a mutual consensus.

 While negotiating issues, parties shift their stand from an ideal
position to a settlement point, which is mutually agreed upon.

-The position of the settlement point depends on the relative bargaining strength
and skill of the negotiator.
 The sacrifices to be made and the concessions to be yielded, depend to a large
extent on the negotiating skills of the bargaining agent.

Ôf he is powerful, he will have his way. Ôf this power is challenged on justifiable

grounds where other people see reason, he may have to yield his ground.
Ú   
Y



 
‡ To create conditions for strong, stable representative
by union
‡ Recognition by the law of the trade unions
‡ Political leadership to be replaced by internal workers
leadership
‡ No political interference
‡ Both management and unions should adopt peaceful
means of settling disputes
‡ Adjudication to be resorted to as last resort, when all
other remedies have failed.
Y    
‡ Minimum Wages: Minimum wage is the wage that is able to
provide not only for bare physical needs but also for preservation of
efficiency of worker plus some measure of education, health and
other things.

‡ Fair Wages: Fair wages is an adjustable step that moves up

according to the capacity of the industry to pay, and the prevailing
rates of wages in the area of industry.

‡ Living wages: Living wage is that which workers can

maintain the health and decency, a measure of comfort and some
insurance against the more important misfortune of lie.
 2


6
            
  

      

              


               
         
    

‡ Õ 
          


‡     
      


     
 
    
 2


Wage policy refers to systematic efforts of the government in relation to national

wage and salary system.

Purpose: To regulate the structure of wages and salaries with view to achieve
economic and social objectives of the government.

‡ To give to workers a share in fruits of economic development.

‡ To set minimum wages for workers whose bargaining power
is weak.
‡ To bring about more efficient allocation and utilization of
human resources through wage and salary differential.
‡ To abolish malpractices and abuses in wage and salary
payments.
 To prohibit any delay or withholding of
Payment of Wages Act, 1937 wages

Authorizing all state governments to set up

industrial tribunals which would look into
Ôndustrial Disputes Act, 1947 disputes relating to remuneration

Fixation of minimum rates of wages to

Minimum Wages Act, 1948 workers

Prohibits discrimination in matters relating

to remuneration on the basis of religion, sex
Equal Remuneration Act, 1976
etc.

With all these Acts in place, are there no disparities in wages?

 

Ôn an assessment of the general wage policy the
first task is to identify the indicators for such
evaluation. Ôndicators selected for this purpose
are:
i. The state of industrial harmony;
ii. The changes in workers¶ level of living;
iii. Changes in productivity;
iv. The impact of wages on prices; and
v. The share of wages in the value added by
manufacture.
  


 
‡ Ôndex of industrial harmony is the number of man days lost owing
to industrial disputes
‡ Ôt would not be unreasonable to assume that the trend in time loss
would be considerably influenced by disputes relating to wages and
cognate issues as they constitute nearly 40% of the total number of
disputes even now
‡ Apart of the increased time loss could be attribute to the number of
new units established in recent years and the consequent increase in
industrial employment and improvements in the methods of
reporting mandays lost
 
 

‡ Level of living is a function of real wages
‡ Ôndustrial relations machinery set up by the Government to settle
wage disputes worked in such a manner as to result in a restraint on
wages
‡ Real wages after a rise in the period 1947 to 1955 have been
declining subsequently
‡ Net effect of the operations of the industrial disputes machinery on
wages of factory workers has been that in 1965 the industrial
workers at the lower levels were earning hardly a real wage
corresponding to that of the year 1952
‡ On the whole, between 1952 and 1965, while per capita real income
has improved, the real wages of workers have, with few exceptions,
at best not fallen. But the situation has deteriorated since 1965²66
due to a further rise in living costs.
 Y  

‡ Labour productivity and changes therein are difficult to measure
and there are no reliable indices available in this respect.
‡ The main difficulty in measuring labour productivity arises owing to
the output not being an exclusive product of labour. Capital,
technology and management²all contribute to it along with labour
and these seldom remain constant.
‡ Production per worker has increased by about 63 per cent between
1952 and 1964.
‡ A part of it must have been contributed by labour whose real
earnings have remained almost static during the period.
   

‡ Between 1952 and 1958, money wages as a percentage of total
output dropped from 13.7 to 11.4.
‡ Between 1960 and 1964, on the basis of the new series of the Annual
Survey of industries, the drop was from 10.9 to 9.7
‡ The decline varies from industry to industry but has been registered
in all cases, except in case of fair sized units in the match industry
where wage costs as a proportion of the cost of production have
gone up.
 Ú
  
‡ One has to take into account the share of workers in the value added
by manufacture
‡ Ôn this indicator, only two shares count:
a. Of employers and those who have provided capital in the
expectation of a dividend and
b. Of workers

‡ The percentage of wages to the value added by manufacture,

shows a decline from about 50 per cent in the period 1949-50 to
about 40 per cent in 1958. This trend seems to have continued in
the subsequent years

‡ Ôncreases in money wages of industrial workers since Ôndependence
have not been associated with a rise in real wages nor have real wage
increases been commensurate with improvements in productivity
‡ Simultaneously, wage costs as a proportion of total costs of
manufacture have registered a decline and the same is true about
workers¶ share in value added by manufactures
‡ Wage disputes under these conditions have continued to be the
single most important cause of all industrial disputes.
‡ Ôndustrial wages should not be out of alignment with:
a. per capita national income,
b. wages earned in the agriculture/cottage industries,
c. the general level of earnings of the self-employed, and
d. levels of productivity.
2
  
                  
  
       

     

              
       
     

          

‡ Employees in MNCs are paid higher.

‡ Different industries have different wage structures resulting in

disparities in remuneration for identical works.

‡ Wide gaps exist between wages of employees of organised

sector vs. unorganised sector.
]     
º           
       

1. To induce workers to undertake ³more demanding´,

³more risky´ jobs.

2. Encourage workers to develop skills in anticipation of

higher earnings in future.

3. To perform social function by way of determining the

social status of workers.
½
      

   
   
  

               

‡ Ôrritating climate
‡ Ôsolation
‡ Disparities in cost of living
  
  
        
  
 
          
    
1. Extent of unionization
2. Employers ability to pay/ product demand in market
3. Provides opportunity for workers to switch to higher wage
industries.
   2
  

            

!   "        
 
 


Ôn occupations which involve muscular work, women workers are employed but paid
less than men workers

Ô.L.O. convention (No. 100V

Ôndustrial courts
Labour Tribunals
³Equal pay for equal work´
Minimum Wages Committee
Fare Wage Committee
 Ú    

º         !# $ # " 

    
   
    

             

                


Ú

‡ Õ            

        

‡ % 
   
       

  &