INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS & LABOUR LAWS

Q1 (a).Trace the evolution of Industrial relations in India.

Ans. A study of modern industrial relations in India can be made in three distinct phases. The first phase
can be considered to have commenced from about the middle of the nineteenth century and ended by the
end of the First World War. The second phase comprises the period thereafter till the attainment of the
independence in 1947, and the third phase represents the post-independence era.

First Phase: During the first phase, the British Government in India was largely interested in enforcing
penalties for breach of contract and in regulating the conditions of work with a view to minimising the
competitive advantages of indigenous employers against the British employers. A series of legislative
measures were adopted during the latter half of the nineteenth century, which can be the beginning of
industrial relations in India.
The close of the First World War gave a new twist to the labour policy, as it created certain
social, economic and political conditions, which raised new hopes among people for a new social order.
There was intense labour unrest because workers’ earnings did not keep pace with the rising prices and
with their aspirations. The establishment of ILO in 1919 greatly influenced the labour legislation and
Industrial relations policy in India. The emergence of trade unions in India, particularly the formation of All
India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) in 1920 was another significant event in the history of industrial
relations in our country.

Second Phase :The Policy after the First World War related to improvement in the working conditions and
provision of social security benefits. It was a period of boom for employers. With rising prices, their profits
went up enormously. The wages of workers, however did not keep pace with this tendency. Their
economic distress brought together and an organised working class movement began in the country
resulting strikes or lockouts. During this period, as a result of ILO influence, various laws were enacted
i.e. Workmen’s Compensation Act (1923), the Trade Unions Act (1926) and the Trade Disputes Act
(1917).
During the Second war, employers made enormous profits. The workers demanded a share in them.
Bonus and dearness allowance were granted to them but as money wages did not increase in proportion
to the rise in prices. The years immediately following the war were the most disturbed years from the point
of view of the pattern of Industrial relations in India. In 1946 the Industrial Employment (Standing orders)
Act and the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 provided for the settlement of disputes.

Third Phase: Immediately after Independence, in the interests of the national economy, it was considered
necessary to put a stop to strikes/ lockouts that interrupted production. A tripartite conference was,
therefore convened in 1947, at which the industrial Truce Resolution was adopted, giving paramount
importance to the maintenance of industrial peace. The Minimum Wages Act, The Factories Act and the
Employees State Insurance Act were all enacted in 1948.
When India became independent in 1947, industrial scene was subjected to considerable amount of
chaos and confusion. Industrial unrest and shattered worker management relations have been prevalent
everywhere. Govt. has emerged as an arbitrator between management and workers. It is in this context
that the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 deserves importance.
During the second five year plan period, certain norms, mechanisms and practices were evolved which
evolved which formulate the need based minimum wage, wage boards, guidelines on rationalisation, code
of discipline, code of conduct, scheme for workers participation in management.
 Q1 (b) Define Industrial Relations and examine its nature, scope and objectives.

Ans.The term ‘Industrial Relations’ comprises ‘Industry’ and ‘relations’. “Industry” means “any productive
activity in which an individual is engaged” and “relations” means “the relations that exist in the industry
between the employer and his workmen.”

V.Agnihotri defines “the term industrial relations explains the relationship between employees and
management which stem directly or indirectly from union-employer relationship”.

According to C.B. Kumar “ Industrial relations are broadly concerned with bargaining between employers
and trade union on wages and other terms of employment”.

Nature or features of Industrial Relations:

1. Industrial relations are the relations, which are the outcome of the “employment relationship” in an
industrial enterprise. Without the existence of two parties, the employer and the workmen such
relationship cannot exist.

2. This relationship emphasises on the process of accommodations whereby the parties involved
develop skills and methods of adjusting to and cooperating with each other.

3. The government/State evolves, influences and shapes industrial relations with the help of laws,
rules, agreements, awards of the courts, and emphasis on usages, customs, traditions,
implementations of its policies and interference through executive and judicial machinery.

4. Every industrial relations system creates a complex of rules and regulations to govern the work
place, and work community with the main purpose of maintaining harmonious relations between
labour and management by solving their problems through collective bargaining.

Scope and objectives of industrial relations:

The concept of industrial relations has a very wide meaning and connotation. In the narrow sense, it
means that the employer, employee relationship confines itself to the relationship that emerges out of the
day- to day association of the management and the labour. In its wider sense, industrial relations include
the relationship between an employee and an employer in the course of the running of an industry and
may project itself to spheres, which may transgress to the areas of quality control, marketing, price
fixation and disposition of profits among others.

Objectives of Industrial Relations:

i) To safeguard the interest of labour as well as management by securing the highest level of
mutual understanding and goodwill between all sections in industry which take in the process of
production.
ii) To avoid industrial conflicts, and develop harmonious relations, which is essential for productive
efficiency of workers and industrial progress in a country.
iii) To raise productivity to a higher level in an era of full employment by lessening the tendency of
higher labour turnover and frequent absenteeism.
iv) To bring down strikes, lockouts and gheraos by providing better and reasonable wages and
improved living conditions, and fringe benefits to the workers.
v) To bring about government control over such units and plants, which are running at losses or
where production has to be regulated in public interest.

Q2(a). Examine the Evolution of Industrial Relations Policies in India.

Ans. Evolution of Industrial Relations Policies

1. In pre-independence India

State intervention in labour/ industrial relations had its beginning when the British Government in India
was constrained to protect its commercial interests in this country. An ILO Publication observes : “ Far
from protecting the interests of labour, the earlier attempts to regulate labour consisted of enactments
such as the Assam Labour Act, the workmen’s Breach of Contract Act, 1859, and the Employers’ and
Workmen’s (Disputes) Act of 1860. These Acts aimed at protecting the social system against labour
rather than protecting labour against the social system.
Deterioration in working conditions, because of greater development of industrial units: unduly low wages
and consequent dissatisfaction of the working class; growing indiscipline among the workers; strained
relations between labour and management the formation of ILO: the emergence of AITUC (1920) and
demands for higher wages, improved working conditions led to serious industrial troubles and labour
problems.
The beginning of industrial relations dynamics can be traced back to the inception of the Indian Labour
Conference as far as 1942 by B.R.Ambedkar, when the policy of bringing together three parties namely,
govt., management and labour on a common platform as consultative tripartite forum for all matter of
labour policy and industrial relations was accepted.

2. In Post-Independence India

The Industrial Disputes Act (1947) provided for

i. The establishment of a permanent machinery for the settlement of disputes in the shape of
certain authorities like the Works Committee, Conciliation Officers, Industrial Tribunals,
Labour Courts:
ii. Making an award of a Tribunal or any settlement brought about by the conciliator binding on the
parties and legally enforceable.

This Act seeks:

i. The prevention and settlement of industrial disputes in all industries through conciliation,
arbitration and adjudication/
ii. To prohibit strikes lock-outs during the pendency of conciliation and adjudication proceeding.

In 1950, two bills were brought by the government- a Labour Relations Bill and a Trade Unions Bill. They
retained the provisions of the 1947 amendment. They also introduced the principle that “ collective
bargaining would be compulsory for both employers and unions under stipulated conditions. Labour
courts were empowered to certify unions as sole bargaining agents.
Q2 (b).Comment on the future of Industrial Relations in India.

Ans.FUTURE OF INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS IN INDIA

1. The first is the issue of strengthening collective bargaining by trying to determine a sole
bargaining agent for negotiation. The state of Maharashtra has already passed a law for the creation
of a sole bargaining agency in every unit and industry. Collective Bargaining is advocated where the
parties involved have a fuller understanding. This will help to arrive at a speedier settlement of
disputes between themselves.

2. The second issue relates to the gaps that are occurring as a result of the variations that occur in
Central and State legislation as far as labour matters are concerned. In India, labour falls under the
Concurrent List though NCL has made a recommendation for forming a common labour code, which
is yet to be adopted. Adoption of this recommendation will go a long way in solving some of the
problems that India’s legislation process in facing.

3. Another issue is that of worker’s participation in management. India has already experienced
working of many forms of worker participation schemes but none of them seems to have made any
headway. The reasons for the failure of these schemes need to be probed into.

Its strategic importance extends beyond the limited frontiers of union- management relationship and
overlaps with the future prospects for Indian democracy on one hand, and the basic concepts and
assumptions of economic development on the other. The set of strategic choices must be made in the
midst of economic and political difficulties that the country is undergoing.