Industrial disputes may be said to be

disagreement or controversy between

management and labour with respect to
wages, working conditions, other
employment matters or union recognition.
 Industrial conflicts constitute militant and
organized protests against existing industrial
conditions. They are symptoms of industrial
unrest. The term ‘industrial dispute’ as
described in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
is characterized by the following features
 There should be a difference or dispute
 The dispute could be between employer-
employer, employee-employee or
employer-employee
 The dispute must pertain to some work-
related issue
 The dispute must be raised by a group or
class of workers. For example the
dispute between one or two workers and
the respective employer is not an
industrial dispute
Without state intervention

1.Collective bargaining
I. Without conciliation
II. With conciliation

2. voluntary arbitration
With state intervention
1. Compulsory establishment of bipartite
committees
2. Establishment of Compulsory collective
bargaining
3. Compulsory investigation
4. Compulsory conciliation and mediation
5. Compulsory arbitration or adjudication
 What is
What is
Collective
Collective
Bargaining?
Bargaining?
 Collective bargaining is a type of negotiation used by employees to
work with their employers.
 During a collective bargaining period, workers' representatives
approach the employer and attempt to negotiate a contract which
both sides can agree with.
 Typical issues covered in a labor contract are hours, wages,
benefits, working conditions, and the rules of the workplace.
 Once both sides have reached a contract that they find agreeable,
it is signed and kept in place for a set period of time, most
commonly three years.
 The final contract is called a collective
bargaining agreement, to reflect the fact
that it is the result of a collective
bargaining effort.
 The parties often refer to the result of
negotiation as a Collective Bargaining
Agreement (CBA) / as a Collective
Employment Agreement (CEA).
a) Presentation in a collective manner, to the
employer, their demands and grievances by the
employees;
b) Discussions and negotiations on the basis of
mutual give and take for settling thegrievances
and fulfilling the demands;
c) Signing of a formal agreement or an informal
understanding when negotiations result in
mutual satisfaction; and
a) In the event of failure of negotiations, a likely
resort to strike or lock-out to force the
recalcitrant party to come to terms.

 When collective negotiations reach a

deadlock, the parties themselves may call in
third persons to help them settle their
disputes.
 The role of this third person is to break the
deadlock, to interpret the view point of one to
the other, and thereby to help the parties
arrive at an agreement.
 It is he process in which the disputing
parties show willingness to go to an
arbitrator (a third party) and submit to his
decision voluntarily.
 agreement between workman and
management, Send copy to the
Government and conciliation officer,
publication of agreement
 In many cases an argument simply cannot be
settled as both parties disagree on their own
grounds. They therefore enter into Voluntary
Arbitration, which involves appointing an
independent party to assess the situation and
then make a decision based on the facts
presented to them.
 It is commonly viewed as less expensive and
faster than resolving a dispute in court.
 An arbitrator may be a single person or a
panel.
 At the time of submitting a dispute to
arbitration, the parties may agree in
advance,
to abide by the award of the arbitrator and
thus industrial peace is maintained and the
dispute is resolved.
 Sometimes, however, the parties may agree
to submit the dispute to an arbitrator but at
the
same time, reserve their right to accept or
reject the award when it comes.
i. Easy availability of adjudication in case of failure of
negotiations;
ii. Dearth of suitable arbitrators who command the
confidence of both parties;
iii. Absence of recognized union which could bind the
workers to common agreements;
iv. Legal obstacles;
v. The fact that in law no appeal was competent
against an arbitrator’s award;
vi. Absence of a simplified procedure to be followed in
voluntary arbitration.
vii. cost to the parties, particularly workers.
 The state has passed enactments requiring
the establishment of bipartite committees
consisting of the representatives of workers
and their employer at the plant or industrial
level.
 These bipartite committees are given the
power to settle differences between the
workers and the employers as soon as they
appear, and thereby they prevent them from
growing into big conflagrations.
 The primary ideas behind the establishment
of such bipartite committees are:
1. Giving encouragement to the parties
concerned to settle and compose their
differences by them selves in order to avoid
the direct intervention of a third agency.
2. Facilitating the composition of the
differences at their embroynic stages
without causing work stoppage.
 The idea behind such a policy is to force the
parties to seek to settle their differences
through mutual negotiations and discussions
before they decide to resort strikes or lock-out.
 Where the parties themselves have set up a
machinery for collective bargaining and
negotiation, the imposition of collective
bargaining by the state becomes unnecessary.
 But, if either or both the parties resist the
establishment of collective bargaining and the
state feels that collective bargaining helps the
peaceful and democratic conduct of industrial
relations, it may impose collective bargaining
compulsory.
 State may encourage, and if necessary, force
workers and employers to enter into formal
collective bargaining through their
representatives.
 In India, refusal to bargain collectively in
good faith by the employer and the
recognized union, has been included in the
list of unfair labour practices by an
amendment of the Industrial Disputes Act in
1982.
 However, in absence of making recognition
of
representative union by the employer
statutorily compulsory, this provision of the
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 does not have
much significance.
 Many government have assumed power under
laws relating to industrial relation, to set up
machinery to investigate into any dispute.
 The purpose behind the appointment of a
court of inquiry is necessary to find out the
relevant facts and issues involved and to give
them wide publicity so that the pressure of
public opinion may force the recalcitrant
party to give up its obstinate attitude.
 This is where the two parties in a dispute are
brought together and suggestions made, as to
how the dispute can be settled.
 Impartial third party helps the two parties to
reach a mutually acceptable settlement.
 Conciliator meets parties separately or together
to exchange information, clarify issues and settle
misunderstanding.
 Conciliator does not impose a solution but works
with the parties to enable them to come to an
agreement.
 It is facilitated negotiation, essential in public
utility services, Binding on parties to the
disputes.
A. Voluntary conciliation and mediation
B. Compulsory conciliation and mediation
 Although the state has devised methods for
the peaceful settlement of industrial
disputes, it is clear that these do not
guarantee a smooth end to disputes.
 The main idea behind the imposition of
compulsory arbitration is to maintain
industrial peace by requiring the parties to
refrain from causing work-stoppages and
providing a way for settling the disputes.
The two principal forms of compulsory
arbitration based upon the nature of
reference and nature of award:
1. Compulsory reference but voluntary
acceptance of the award
2. Compulsory reference and compulsory
acceptance of the award
 Standing orders: These are the rules and
regulations which govern the conditions of
employment of workers. The Industrial
Employment (standing orders) Act of 1946
provides for the framing of standing orders in
all industrial undertakings employing 100 or more
workers.
 Grievance procedure: A model grievance
procedure as suggested by the Indian Labour
Conference, 1958 has more or less been widely
accepted in India now.
 Code of discipline: It consists of a set of self-
imposed obligations voluntarily formulated by the
central organization of workers and employers.
 Conciliation: The practice by which the services
of a neutral third party are used in a dispute as
a means of helping the disputing parties to
reduce the extent of their differences and to
arrive at an amicable settlement or agreed
solution.
Conciliation officer: an authority appointed by the government to
mediate disputes between parties brought to his notice; enjoying the
powers of a civil court. He is supposed to give judgment within 14 days
of the commencement of the conciliation proceedings.
Board of conciliation: The Board is an adhoc, tripartite body having
the powers of a civil court created for a specific dispute(when the
conciliation officer fails to resolve disputes within a time frame, the
board is appointed)
Court of enquiry: In case the conciliation proceedings fail to resolve a
dispute, a court of enquiry is constituted by the government to
investigate the dispute and submit the report within six months.
 Voluntary arbitration: It is he process in which
the disputing parties show willingness to go to an
arbitrator (a third party) and submit to his
decision voluntarily.
 Adjudication: It is the process of settling
disputes compulsorily through the intervention
of a third party appointed by the Government.
The Industrial Disputes Act provides a three-tier
adjudication machinery consisting of:
1. Labour court
2. Industrial tribunal
3. National tribunal