A

PROJECT
ON
INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE AND INDIVIDUAL DISPUTE
(LABOUR LAW)

Submitted as a partial fulfilment of the requirements

for
B.A. LL.B (HONS) 5 Year Integrated Course

Session: 2021-2022

Submitted On: Wednesday, 23 February 2022

Submitted By: Submitted to:

Ms. SNEHA RATHORE
AVANI LEKHARA
Roll no-17
Semester -5 Section -A

University five year law college

University of Rajasthan, Jaipur

 Declaration

I , Av a n i L e k h a r a , h e r e b y d e c l a r e t h a t t h i s p r o j e c t t i t l e d
“INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE AND INDIVIDUAL DISPUTE” is based on the original
research work carried out by me under the guidance and supervision of Ms. Sneha
Rathore .

The interpretations put forth are based on my reading and understanding of the
original texts. The books, articles and websites etc. which have been relied upon by
me have been duly acknowledged at the respective places in the text.

For the present project which I am submitting to the university, no degree or

diploma has been conferred on me before, either in this or in any other university.

Date: Wednesday, 23 February 2022 (Avani Lekhara)

Roll No.17
Semester 5A

 Certificate

Ms. SNEHA RATHORE Date: Wednesday, 23 February 2022

Assistant Professor
University five year law college,
University of Rajasthan, Jaipur

This is to certify that Avani Lekhara student of semester 5 Section A of

University Five Year Law College, University of Rajasthan has carried out project
tittle “INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE AND INDIVIDUAL DISPUTE” under my supervision. It
is an investigation of a minor research project. The student has completed research
work in stipulated time and according to norms prescribed for the purpose.

Supervisor

 Acknowledgment

I have written this project titled, "INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE AND INDIVIDUAL

DISPUTE” under the supervision of Ms. Sneha Rathore Faculty, University Five
Year Law College, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur. His valuable suggestions herein
have not only helped me immensely in making this work but also in developing an
analytical approach this work.

I found no words to express my sense of gratitude for Director Dr. Aruna

Choudhary and constant encouragement at every step.

I am extremely grateful to librarian and library staff of the college for the
support and cooperation extended by them from time to time.

Avani Lekhara

 Table of content

• Declaration

• Certificate

• Acknowledgment

• Introduction

• What are the Causes of Industrial Disputes or Disagreements?

• Difference between the industrial dispute from the individual dispute.

• An individual dispute becomes industrial dispute

• After the enactment of 2 A in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947

• Resolution of the individual disputes

• Conclusion

• References

 Introduction

In any industry, maintenance of industrial peace has been of utmost importance for its constructive
growth. As a result, these industries of different advanced countries, strive to maintain their
industrial relationships more or less known as employer-worker relationship in a peaceful manner.
In India, these relationships tend to be conceived as a partnership in a constructive endeavour, to
promote the satisfaction of the economic needs of the community in the best possible
manner. Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 (hereinafter referred as “ID Act, 1947”) which the Ministry
of Labour and Employment has now changed to Industrial Relations Code, 2020 (hereinafter
referred as “IR Code, 2020”) further provides for maintaining these relationships in successfully.

ID Act, 1947 defines Industrial dispute, as a dispute or difference between workmen and employers
or between workmen and workmen, which is connected with the employment or non-employment
or the terms of employment or with the conditions of labour of any person. It is the difference or
disagreement between an employer and employee’s representative i.e. trade union. However,
international organisations such as the International Labour Organization (hereinafter referred as
“ILO”) have classified industrial disputes or disagreements into Individual disputes and Collective
Disputes. The Individual Dispute is the one which involves a single worker or a number of workers
as individuals and is collective if involving a number of workers.

The Individual Dispute arose, can further transform into a Collective Dispute, if the cause is
followed by a number of workers or groups of workers or trade unions. The ILO has further
classified the industrial disputes into Disputes about Rights and Disputes about Interests which
generally are also called Economic Disputes. The Rights Disputes can further be described as a
dispute concerning the violation of or interpretation of existing rights as per the law, collective
agreement or individual contract of employment. Whereas, the Interests Disputes is one which
arises from differences over the determination of future rights and obligations and is usually the
result of a failure of collective bargaining.

In India, industrial disagreements arose, surround the classifications made by ILO on the industrial
dispute. These mostly ignite out of the industrial unrest and are manifested through strikes,
lockouts, picketing, gheraos and indiscipline on the part of workers regarding employment. The
causes of the unrest may be disagreement in pay or other working conditions such as insufficient
pay, lack of benefits and assistance schemes, or the causes may be wider socio-economic problems
such as poverty and unemployment, etc.

These relates to employment or non-employment, or terms of employment or conditions of labour

of any person preferably related to the industry in correspondence to Indian Law. In India, the
industrial disputes have not been classified further but anything that surrounds the concern of ILO’s
classification on Industrial dispute is considered to be industry dispute.

What are the Causes of Industrial Disputes or Disagreements?

Disputes arise since workmen have right to collective bargaining. To constitute any dispute as an
industrial dispute, there should be a demand made by workmen or employee in relation to the
employment or non-employment and the same should have been denied by the person to whom the
demand is made leading to dispute. In the case of Sindhu Resettlement Corporation Ltd. v.
Industrial Tribunal, 1968 AIR 529, Supreme Court has said that, if there is no dispute raised by the
workmen with the management, any request sent by them to the government would only be a
demand. A mere demand to the government without a dispute being raised cannot become an
industrial dispute.

However, the expression of the industrial dispute has been widely defined and any that may develop
between the employer and its workmen cannot go outside the purview of the definition (Workmen
of Hindustan Lever Ltd. Hindustan Lever Ltd., 1984 AIR 1683). Even if the demand is not made
earlier before the management and rejected by them and is raised at the time of reference or
conciliation proceedings, the dispute may be an industrial dispute (Shambu Nath Goyal v. Bank of
Baroda, 1984 AIR 289).

It can be the economic causes that are dissatisfaction towards compensation like wages, promotions,
bonus, allowances, and other benefits or conditions for work, working hours, leave and holidays
without pay, unjust layoffs and retrenchments, disputes in dismissal, etc.

Or the non – economic causes factors including victimisation of workers, ill-treatment by staff
members, sympathetic strikes, political factors, indiscipline, etc. The non-economic causes of
industrial disputes can be classified as psychological causes (such as clash of personalities, the
demand of self-respect and recognition by workers, nature of administration, etc.), institutional
causes (such as non-recognition/ registration of trade union, matters of collective bargaining, unfair
trade and practices, etc.), denial of legal and other rights of workers (such as proceedings
against labour laws and regulations, violation of already made agreements i.e. between employees
and employers).
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 Difference between the industrial dispute from the individual dispute

The industrial dispute conveys the meaning that the dispute must be such as would affect large
groups of workmen and employers ranged in opposite sides. Whereas, the individual dispute is the
one which is raised by a single worker. It is not mandatory that a dispute should be raised by a
registered Trade Union to constitute an industrial dispute. When community interest gets added to
the individual dispute or it is supported by workmen themselves or their union or federation on their
behalf an individual dispute transforms into a collective industrial dispute.

According to the definition under ID Act, 1947 the dispute can be raised either for a workman or
any person about whom the workmen have a substantial interest in the employment or non-
employment or terms of employment or conditions of labour. Here, the expression “any person”
connotes to workmen and any other person provided it is related with the workmen about whose
employment or non-employment or terms of employment or conditions of labour workmen have a
direct and substantial interest. Alternatively, it can be said that any person must be an employee of
the industry in which the workmen are employees (Narendra Kumar Sen v. All India Bank
Dispute, AIR1953 Bom 325).

Similarly, in Workmen of Dirakuchi Tea Estate v. Management of Dirakuchi Tea Estate, 1958
AIR 353, the expression “any person” was interpreted in the definition clause as meaning a person
in whose employment or non-employment or terms of employment or conditions of labour. The
workmen as a class have a direct or substantial interest with whom they have under the scheme of
the Act a community of interest. The Court further said that only the aggrieved party can raise a
dispute but, in case if an industrial dispute it is put in a collective basis because it settled that an
industrial dispute not espoused by others of the class to which the aggrieved party belongs is not an
industrial dispute.

Thus, from the above decision, it can be said that “any person” one about whom the workmen have
a substantial interest in the employment or non-employment or terms of employment or conditions
of labour even though he does not fall within the definition of “workmen” under the ID Act, 1947.
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 An individual dispute becomes industrial dispute

Any individual dispute to be declared as an industrial dispute the following conditions are to be
satisfied, first, when a body of workmen trade union or a considerable number of workmen, are
found to have made common cause with the individual workmen. When the body of workmen
either acting through their union or otherwise had sponsored a workman’s case it becomes an
industrial dispute. Provided, the support or sponsorship obtained must be the workmen of the
employer against whom a dispute is sought (Newspaper Ltd., Allahabad v. Industrial Tribunal,
AIR 1960 SC 1328).

The concept of being in the same employer under the same employer brings out the community
interest when the act complained against happened and not when the dispute was referred to. In the
case of Bombay Union of Journalists v. The Hindu, 1961 II L.L.J 436, the Bombay Union of
Journalists, of whom the Workers Union was a member, raised a workers’ dispute. The Bombay
Journalists Union was not a union of one job, but all employees in the Bombay journalism industry.
Its members were none of the Hindu employees. Supreme Court held the dispute to be individual
rather than industrial.

However, this opinion of considering the dispute as individual dispute due to lack of support by a
significant number of employees or unions has no remedy under the ID Act, 1947 was later
overruled and remedy is provided to any person raising the industrial dispute provided it satisfies all
grounds as listed in ID Act, 1947 for constituting industrial dispute. The second condition on which
individual dispute can be entertained as the industrial dispute is that the individual dispute was
taken up or sponsored by the workman as a body Trade Union or by a considerable section of them
before the date of reference. In the case of Workmen of Indian Express Newspapers Ltd. v.
Management Indian Express Newspapers, AIR 1970 SC 737, the Indian Express journalists had
no union and therefore their dispute was raised by Delhi Union of Journalists, which was an
external union. Few per cent of the Indian express working journalists were members of that union.
The court here held that the Delhi Union of Journalists had a representative character. The working
journalists used Indian Express and the dispute thus became an industrial dispute.

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 After the enactment of 2 A in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947

The section 2 A of the ID Act, 1947 today, states that when an employer discharges, dismisses,
retrenches, or otherwise terminates the services of an individual workman, any dispute or difference
between that workman and his employer connected with, or arising out of, such discharge,
dismissal, retrenchment or termination shall be deemed to be an industrial dispute notwithstanding
that no other workman nor any union of workmen is a party to the dispute.

Before insertion of this clause Supreme Court had led down the points on whose satisfaction an
individual dispute can be transformed into an industrial dispute that is, the dispute must be
sponsored by a trade union and it must be sponsored by a significant number of workers. An
individual dispute even though appeared as an industrial dispute from the perspective of subjects
referred to in ID Act, 1947 can be termed as an industrial dispute on fulfilling the above mentioned
conditions. But after the introduction of section 2 A, a dispute would be an industrial dispute in
respect of these matters specified in that section even though it is not sponsored by a union or a
considerable number of workmen.

Now, no difference lies between the industrial dispute and individual dispute. Every dispute whether
raised individually or collectively will be covered under industrial disputes. However, according to
section 2 A not all disputes to be referred as industrial disputes. Rather only when a dispute is
connected with a discharged, dismissed, retrenched or terminated workman that it shall be treated as
an industrial dispute. Therefore, for the matters connecting to payment of bonus, gratuity, other
interest issues only collective dispute will constitute as an industrial dispute if it were only an
individual dispute and it was taken up either by the union or by a substantial body or workmen.
Here, the collective dispute does not mean that the dispute should either be sponsored by a
recognized union or that all or majority of the workmen of an industrial establishment should be
parties to it (State of Bihar v. Kripa Shankar Jaiswal, 1961 AIR 304).

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 Resolution of the individual disputes

Industrial progress and prosperity, maintenance of peaceful relations are important for the
successful administration of industry. The individual disputes are raised can be resolved through
Grievance Settlement Authority in accordance with rules under ID Act, 1947, or through registered
trade unions under Trade Unions Act, 1926, or through the Labour Court having competent
jurisdiction.

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 CONCLUSION

Section 2 (k) compared with Section 2-A

An individual dispute even though not sponsored by other workmen or espoused by the union
would by deemed to be an industrial dispute if it covers any of the matters mentioned in Section 2-
A. So far as the subject matter of the dispute is concerned 2-A does not bring about any change. The
provisions of Section 2(K) alone determine that question.

The only change introduced by Section 2-A is that before its introduction, a dispute even though
was an industrial dispute from the perspective of subjects referred to in Section 2 (k) would not
have become an industrial dispute if it were only an individual dispute and it was not taken up either
by the union or by a substantial body or workmen. But after the introduction of Section 2-A such a
dispute would be an industrial dispute in respect of those matters specified in that Section even
though it is not sponsored by a union or a considerable number of workmen. Section 2-A can be
treated as an explanation to Section 2 (k).

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 References

1. https://www.ilo.org/legacy/english/dialogue/ifpdial/llg/noframes/ch4.htm

2. http://www.whatishumanresource.com/industrial-disputes

3. https://theinvestorsbook.com/industrial-disputes.html

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