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What is industrial dispute?Unrest and discontent among workers which give

rise to complicated situations and difficult problems.

Conflict or difference of opinion between management and workers.

Industrial disputes generally arise due to tensions between labor and management, and gives rise to more issues.

This may cause employees to not do their work, and affecting the quality and quantity of production.

Types of industrial disputes

Industrial disputes are basically of two types

Strikes Lockouts

StrikesA legitimate weapon in hands of workmen that is

used to assert bargaining power.Strikes are a result of more fundamental

maladjustments, injustices and economic disturbances.

A temporary termination of work by a group of employees in order to express grievances or to enforce a demand concerning changes in work conditions.

Strikes are divided into three types. They are Primary strikes, secondary strikes and other

strikes.

Strikes………. Primary strikes are generally against the

employer with whom the dispute exists. They are:

Stay Away Strikes: In this strike workmen stay away from the work place. They organize rallies, demonstrations, etc.

Stay-in or sit Down Strikes : In this strike, workmen come to the place , they stay at the work place but they don‘t work.

Tools Down, Pen Down Strike : Here the strikers lay down their tools in case of factory workers , office workers lay down their pens.

Continue….. Token or Protest Strikes : It is of very short

duration and is in nature of signal for the danger ahead. In this strike workers do not work for an hour or a day.

Lightening or Wild cat strike : In this strike, the strike is done without any prior notice or with a shortest notice.

Go –Slow : In this strike, the workers intentionally reduce the speed of work.

… Work to rule: In this strike, the strikers undertake the

work according to rules or job description. Picketing: It is an act of protesting by the workmen in

front of the premises of the employer. Boycott: It aims at disrupting the normal functioning

of the enterprise. Gherao: It is a physical blockade of a target either by

encirclement, intended to block from and to a particular office, workshop etc.

Hunger Strike: This type of strike is resorted to either by the leaders of the union or by some workers all at a time for a limited period or up to the period of settlement of disputes.

Secondary Strike

Secondary strikes are against a third party. These strikes are sympathetic strikes.

Other Strikes These strikes are in the form of general, particular, political.

Lockouts

Closing of a place of business of employment or the suspension of work, or the refusal by the employer to continue to employ any number of persons employed by him.

However, termination of employment or retrenchment, and prohibiting an employee are not lockouts.

Prevention of StrikesIncidence and frequency of strikes can be

minimised through persistent efforts by management.

It requires well defined, precise and clear policies.Effective administration and timely

implementation of defined policies.Effective two-way communication system.Suitable grievance handling procedure.

Causes of industrial Disputes

Causes of Industrial disputes may be grouped into four categories.

Industrial FactorsManagements Attitude towards workers Government Machinery Other Causes

Industrial Factors(i) An industrial matter relating to employment,

work, wages, hours of work, privileges, the rights and obligations of employees and employers, terms and conditions of employment.

(ii) (ii) An industrial matter in which both the parties are directly and substantially interested.

(iii) Disputes arising out of unemployment,inflation, change in the attitude of

management.

Management Attitude Towards Labor

(i) Management’s unwillingness to talk over any dispute with their employees.

(ii) Managements unwillingness to recognize a particular trade union , delegating enough authority to the

representatives, etc. (iii) unwillingness to negotiation and settlement of disputes.(iv) Managements insistence to take care of recruitments,

promotion etc without consulting the concerned employees

(v) Managements unwillingness to provide services and benefits to its employee’s

Government Machinery

It is ineffective and unsatisfactory due to various reasons like their irrelevancy in the context of the challenges of present industrial climate/culture, incapability of understanding and answering imperatives of development, improper and inadequate implementation by many employers.

The governments conciliation machinery has settled a very negligible number of disputes .

Other Causes

Affiliation of the trade unions with a political party, where the latter may instigate the trade unions to conduct strikes, lockouts , gheraos etc.

Political instability, centre- state relations, sometimes result into industrial conflict.

Other potential factors like corruption in industry and public life, easy money, etc can also result into industrial disputes.

Consequences of industrial disputes

• Loss of Output • Decline in the demand for goods and services• Lasting loss to the workers• Increase in indebtedness • Negligence of health of family members • Problem to consumers • Loss to the management/employer • Bad effect on labor relations• Obstruction to economic growth

Settlement of Disputes

• Whatever may be the cause of industrial disputes, the consequences are harmful to all stakeholders-management, employees, economy and the society.

• Employees would be hard hit as the disputes may lead to lockouts and consequent loss of wages and even jobs.

• Various methods are available for resolving disputes. Most important of them are :

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DisputeSettlement

Arbitration

Code of Discipline

Conciliation

Collective Bargaining

Consultative Machinery

Grievance Procedure Adjudication

Arbitration

A process in which a neutral third party listens to the disputing parties, gathers information about the dispute, and then takes a decision which is binding on both the parties. The conciliator simply assists the parties to come to a settlement, whereas the arbitrator listens to both the parties and then gives his judgment.

Types of arbitrationThere are two types of arbitration.

Voluntary Arbitration: In voluntary arbitration the arbitrator is appointed by both the parties through mutual consent and the arbitrator acts only when the dispute is referred to him.

Compulsory Arbitration: Implies that the parties are required to refer the dispute to the arbitrator whether they like him or not. Usually, when the parties fail to arrive at a settlement voluntarily, or when there is some other strong reason, the appropriate government can force the parties to refer the dispute to an arbitrator.

Process of Arbitration

1) The labor union generally takes initiative to go for arbitration. when the union decides, it notifies the management.

2) The union & the management select the potential arbitrator by carefully studying the previous decisions given by the particular arbitrator, to detect any biases.

3) After the arbitrator is selected, the time & place for hearing will be determined, the issue to be resolved will be presented to the arbitrator in a document that summarizes the questions to be decided, any contracts restrictions that prohibit the arbitrator from making an award that would change the terms of existing contract.

4) Each side represents its case at the hearing.5) Each party has to submit formal written statements.

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• Witness , cross-examination, transcripts & legal counsel may be used.

• After hearing, the arbitrator studies the materials submitted and reaches the decision within 30 – 60 days.

• The decision given usually is a written opinion mentioning the reasons.

• The report is submitted by the arbitrator to the appropriate government

Advantages of Arbitration

It is established by the parties themselves and therefore both parties have good faith in the arbitration process.

The process in informal and flexible in nature.It is based on mutual consent of the parties

and therefore helps in building healthy Industrial Relations.

Disadvantages:

Delay often occurs in settlement of disputes.Arbitration is an expensive procedure and the

expenses are to be shared by the labor and the management.

Judgment can become arbitrary when the arbitrator is incompetent or biased.

Conciliation Conciliation is a process by which the representatives of workers and employers are brought together before a third party with a view to persuading them to arrive at an agreement by mutual discussion between them. The third party may be an individual or a group of people. The third party may also be called as mediators. In Conciliation , the ultimate decision rests with the parties themselves but the conciliator may offer a solution to the dispute acceptable to both the parties and serve as a channel communication. The parties may accept his recommendation or reject it.

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If the conciliation fails, the next stage may be compulsory adjudication or the parties may be left with their own choice. Incases where a settlement is arrived at, they can record the settlement and in case of failure of the conciliatory negotiations, they can send a failure report to the appropriate government

Works Committee`

Every industrial undertaking employing 100 or more workers is under an obligation to set up a works committee consisting equal number of representatives of employer and employees. The main purpose of such committees is to promote industrial relations.

Pre-independence Labour laws After take over, a series of industrial relations

legislation was introduced with primary objective of England “protected and bonded labour”.

Two important industrial relation legislation of that era were;

Employers and workmen dispute Act 1860Indian factories Act 1881After first world war labour unrest increased and

there were repeated strikes at that time.Labour-management were given importance first

time in subcontinent.

Post-independence Labour laws After independence Pakistan inherited following

laws from British India;Trade Union Act 1926Factories Act 1934Industrial Employment Act 1946Industrial Dispute Act 1947These four laws provided basis for labour laws and policy making in country.Industrial Dispute Act 1947 was replaced by

Industrial Dispute Ordinance 1959 by Ayub Khan.

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The legislation withdrew right of strikes in an indirect manner.

Workers could not go on strikes without prior notice nor could they strike when matter was pending before conciliator or court.

Industrial Dispute Ordinance 1959 changed system; more enterprises were included in public utility and strikes were banned.

Compulsory adjudication system made workers going from one court to another for justice.

Same did Yahya Khan with labour.