Some of The Notable Tripartite Bodies Are
Some of The Notable Tripartite Bodies Are
Some of The Notable Tripartite Bodies Are
The principals and policies of the tripartite body have been a machinery of consultancy at the
industrial and national levels. The tripartite body was established to make peace and improve
relations between management and unions, and maintain smooth functioning of union
management relations. It began as a statutory organization by the recommendation of the Whitey
Commission to the ILO in 1931. The tripartite body had to be sufficiently large to ensure
sufficient representation of the various interests involved; encourage representatives of
employers, labor and government to meet regularly; and disallow individual members from
making individual contributions to meetings.
a. Bring the aggravated parties together for mutual settlement of differences, and encourage a
spirit of cooperation and goodwill.
c. Discuss all matters of All India importance as between employers and employees.
Other bodies of tripartite nature which deals in various aspects of labour problems -
Indian Labour Conference (ILC) and Standing Labour Committee(SLC) have been
constituted to suggest ways and means to prevent disputes. The representatives of the workers and
employers are nominated to these bodies by the Central Government in consultation with the All-
India organizations of workers and employers. The Labour Ministry settles the agenda for
ILC/SLC meetings after taking into consideration the suggestions sent to it by member
organizations. These two bodies work with minimum procedural rules to facilitate free and fuller
discussions among the members. The ILC meets once a year, whereas the SLC meets as and when
necessary..
ILC and SLC are both important constituents of tripartite bodies and play a vital role in shaping
the IR system of the country.The function of ILC is to advise the Government of India matter
referred to it for advice, taking into account suggestions made by the provincial government, the
states and representative of the organizations of workers and employers´.The function of SLC is to
consider and examine such questions as may be referred to it by the central government and to
render advice,taking into account the suggestions made by various governments, workers and
employers.
Tripartite deliberations have helped reached consensus on statutory wage fixation, introduction of
a health insurance scheme, enactment of the Standing Employment Order Act1946,, Industrial
Disputes Act 1947, Minimum Wages Act1948, Employees· State Insurance Act 1948, Provident
Fund Scheme 1950, The Mines Act 1952 etc.
Other subjects processed by tripartite bodies are workers education, workers participation in
management, training, wage policy, Code of Discipline, criteria and procedures for the recognition
of unions. Though the recommendation of tripartite bodies is of advisory nature, they carry
considerable weight with the government, workers and employers, A detailed account of various
resolutions adopted by the ILC’s in their last two sessions is presented here:
1.On the impact of New Industrial Policy, the chairman referred to the assurance by
the Prime Minister that it would not lead to any human distress and the legitimate
interests of labour would be protected.
2.In regard to retraining and redeployment, the conference desired identification of
labour for such retraining and redeployment and a scheme for industry-wise and
occupation-wise redeployment. The conference also expressed the view that
Government should identify the agency for retraining and their redeployment. The
conference also wanted to know how labour of one unit would be redeployed in
another unit.
1 For absorption of surplus labour, if any, as for maximizing capacity utilization,
the conference suggested diversification and broad-basing by working the units round
the clock and on all days of the week.
4.The conference expressed its serious concern at the low productivity of Indian
industry and expressed its determination to improve wherever necessary its
productivity, enhance its quality and reduce the price of goods to make them
internationally competitive. The conference decided to strive for improvement in
discipline and attitude to work at all levels. It also decided that bipartite efforts to
improve productivity and quality should be institutionalized.
5.The Trade Unions demanded:
The removal of ceiling on bonus both for eligibility and for computation
by promulgation of an ordinance;
The immediate implementation of the DA rate of Rs.2 per point of the
Consumer Price Index (1960 series).
Permission for the managements of the public sector units to commence
negotiations with the unions on their charter of demands immediately.
Clearance by government to the agreement regarding pension and for the
pension scheme for its early introduction.
Enhancement of the rate of interest on Employees’ Provident Fund to at
least 13 per cent.
Enhancement of the limits of exemption of income tax substantially.
6.The employers wanted postponement of the decision on removal of ceiling on
bonus both for eligibility and computation of bonus by one year so that a well-
thought out scheme could be evolved. They also wanted productivity linked bonus as
prescribed under the law.
7.The trade unions indicated that the first National Commission on Labour was
appointed about 25 years ago and a time had come to set up another National
Commission on Labour to examine the issues that labour was facing today in view of
the many changes that has occurred in the meantime.
8.The Labour Cell in the Planning Commission may be revived to facilitate
consultation with trade unions while formulating policies concerning labour. The
view expressed by the participants in the conference with regard to employment
policy may be conveyed to the Planning Commission for its consideration and for the
consideration of the two Sub-Committees of the Planning Commission/ NDC which
are considering strategies for implementation of the employment policy.
31st Session of I.L.C
This session of I.L.C was held at Delhi on 3rd-4th January 1995.In this session various problems
of industrial relations in the context of changed economic environment were discussed. The
various resolutions adopted at the said conference are as under.
1.It was resolved that future sessions of the Standing Labour Committee(SLC) should
carry fewer items on the agenda so that these could be discussed in greater detail.
2.It was resolved that Government may bring specific proposals for new Industrial
Relations Law in the ensuring session of Indian Labour Conference which should
reflect the needs of the qualitative change in the industrial /economic scenario in the
national/global context.
3.It was resolved to set up a tripartite sub-committee to review the implementation of
important Labour laws.
4.It was resolved to set up an autonomous Bipartite Productivity Councils at the
national, regional, industrial and plant levels.
The 32nd Session of Standing Labour Committee
The thirty second session of the Standing Labour Committee was held in New Delhi on October
27, 1994. It discussed various issues concerning employment, vocational training, child labour,
bonded labour, labour standards and international trade. It adopted three important resolutions
discussed below:
1.Social Clause: It was agreed that the government along with employers and labour
organizations would resist in I.L.O. and all other fora any attempt to introduce
“Social clause”, in relation to carrying our marketing at the international level,
contingent upon enforcement of labour standards. Further,it advocated sustained
national and international action for upgrading labour standards without any trade
linkage.
2.Child Labour: With respect to child labour, it remarked that the “Central and State
Governments and Organizations of employers and workers should take co-ordinated
action for the elimination of child labour in hazardous occupations by the year 2000
and in other employments progressively”. It also emphasized that both Central and
State Governments should implement time bound and action plans to take away
children from work and provide them education, primary vocational training, health
and nutrition and concurrently provide to the parents of such children gainful
employment.
2 Bonded Labour: It exhorted that all states should take fresh surveys for the
identification release and rehabilitation of bonded labour.Besides this, measures shall
be initiated to check the relapse of bondage of such labour.
Committee on Conventions:
Once a country has ratified an ILO convention,it is obliged to report regularly on measures it has
taken to implement it. The government must submit reports regularly detailing the steps they have
taken in law and practice to apply any of the conventions they may have ratified. Governments are
required to submit copies of their reports to employers· and workers· organizations. These
organizations may comment on the governments· reports; they may also send comments on the
application of conventions directly to the ILO.Committee in Conventions is a three-man tripartite
committee set up in 1954. The object was To examine the ILO conventions and recommendations
which have not so far been ratified by India.To make suggestions with regard to a phased and
speedy implementation of ILO standards.
It is generally composed of eminent jurists appointed by the Governing Body for three-year terms.
The Experts come from different geographic regions,legal systems and cultures. The Committee's
role is to provide an impartial and technical evaluation of the state of application of international
labour standards.When examining the application of international labour standards the Committee
of Experts makes two kinds of comments: observations and direct requests.Observations contain
comments on fundamental questions raised by the application of a particular convention by a state.
These observations are published in the Committee's annual report.
Direct requests relate to more technical questions or requests for further information. They are not
published in the report but are communicated directly to the governments concerned. The
Committee's annual report consists of three parts. Part I contains a General Report, which includes
comments about member states' respect for their Constitutional obligations and highlights from
the Committee's observations Part II contains the observations on the application of international
labour standards Part III is a General Survey.
Industrial Committees
Industrial Committees are tripartite bodies where the number of workers· representatives are equal
to the employers· representatives. These were set up to discuss various specific problems special
to the industries covered by them and suggest ways to overcome them. These committees provide
a forum for the discussion of proposals for legislation and other matters connected with the labour
policy and administration before they brought before the legislature.
Other committees