Industrial Relations in India:

An Overview

Dr. Ajay Singh

Industrial Relations in India

(main feature)

IR in India is highly regulated

(State plays large role)

A series of laws are designed to prevent conflict

Emphasizes on protecting workers from employers
Too much emphasis on third party interventions
(conciliation)
Court ruling are often on humanitarian grounds
rather than legal grounds

Legal Framework
(Central IR Acts)

1. Trade Unions Act, 1926

Trade Union (Amendment) Act, 2001

2. Industrial Dispute Act, 1947

3. The Industrial Employment (Standing Order) Act, 1946

Trade Unions in India

Characteristics of Trade Unions in India

Multiplicity of Union
Close link of political parties with TU continues
Outside Leadership/membership

(used for political

ends)

Density of union membership varies with

industry (very high in manufacturing like steel, engineering, cotton
textile, chemicals and in services among banking and insurance; and very
low in small industry and construction)

Three tier system: National Federations, Industry wide unions

and enterprise unions: (there is shift from industry to enterprise unions)

Early History of T. U. in India

Earliest TUs organized: Bombay, Calcutta, Madras
Industries: Cotton textiles, jute, railways

One of 1st lab. orgs.: Bombay Millhands Assn.

Formed in 1890: was a welfare organization
Many other such organisations formed between 1887 and 1910

War Years (1914-18) witnessed a spurt of TUs

domestic and global influence

Gandhis satyagraha: Ahmedabad in 1917:

50% wage hike demanded: RejectionStrike
Gandhiji said: 35% fairWM pledged for strike
Gandhiji on fast after 3 weeks of strike: Accepted
This was 1st major union success: Fillip to unionism

Early History of T. U. in India contd

1st TU: Madras Lab Union (1918: by BP Wadia)
Organized WM of Binny Mills Ltd.

TLA: (1920: by Mahatma Gandhi and Ansuyaben Sarabhai

by organising workers of Ahmedabad Textile Mills)

Madras Labour Union strike call in 1920

Court declared the strike and the union illegal: Big blow to movt.

AITUC: first TU Federation formed in 1920

Lala Lajpat Rai (then president of INC) became its first President

Binny Mills (Madras HC) case: led to TU Act in 1926

Unionism accepted also due to check spread of communism

TU under the TU Act 1926

2 (h) Trade Union means

any combination, whether temporary or permanent,

formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the
relations between
workmen & employers, or between WM & WM,
or between employers and employers,
for imposing restrictive conditions on the conduct
of any trade or business,
and includes

any federation of 2 or more TUs:

Salient Features of TU Act 1926

1. Provides who can register a T.U.:
Any 7 or more WM employed in industry/ trade form union
Later amended (2001): At least 10% or 100 whichever is less

2. Registrar of TUs: in each state: procedure for registration/ Appeal

3. Minimum subscription: Rs. 1/ 3/ 12 p.a. (currently)
4. No restriction on general/political funds of a TU:
Thus allows Politicization

5. The Law is silent about craft, category & caste unions

Allows all kinds of union formation

Salient Features of TU Act 1926 Cont.

6. Rights of TUs: Immunities to registered TU/ Office
bearers against certain Civil offences (but now are liable
under consumer protection act)

7. Workmen in this act covers any person employed to do

any kind of work in trade or industry
8. Managers are not explicitly excluded under this Act
9. Both Registration & Recognition of TU not
mandatory under the Act (Some state govts. made law for recg.)
10. Outsiders permitted as TU members/leaders
Reduced proportion of outsiders from 50% to one-third (2001)

TU Structure - 1. International Level

International level Trade Unions are two kinds:
1.

International Trade Union Federations (ITUF)

2.

Global Union Federations (GUFs)

1.

International Trade Union Federations of three types:

Intl. Confederation of Free TUs (ICFTU) - 1913

representatives from central TU orgs. in several countries)

related sectors, eg. Metal Workers Union)

(Federation of

(Unions belong to a single or

-most popular in N. America, W. Europe, dev. countries including India

-Represents 125 m. TU members org. in 206 national TU centres in 141
countries/ territories

2.

World Federation of TUs (WFTU)

3.

International Federation of Christian Unions

communist ideology)

-1945 (communist bloc/ unions with

Also there are several regional level TU organisations at international level: European, S. Asian, African.

TU Structure - 2. National Level

According to criterion set by Govt. of India:
Any Union with minimum of 5,00,000 members
spread over four industries and four states will be
recognized as national TU Centre.

Five major trade unions which fulfill this criterion:

All India TU Congress (AITUC)- Affiliated to CPI
Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS)- close links with RSS & BJP
Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS)- Socialist affiliations, ICFTU
Centre for Indian TUs (CITU)- Affiliated to Marxist party
Indian National TU Congress (INTUC)- Affiliated to
Congress party

TU Structure in India.cont.

TU wings of Regional Political Parties

(DMK, AIDMK, Telgu Desam, Trinamul Congress, Shiv Sena, etc.)

Industrial/ Sectoral Federations: (Almost all National

TU in India have close to 25 industrial/ sectoral federation each)

Enterprise Level Unions: They are of two kinds in India

Those associated to National centres

Those without close affiliation

(within enterprise unions there are craft, category and caste wise unions in India)

Managerial Trade Unions (Referred to as Association)

(Recognized by govt. and employers as welfare association, not as a TU: Bill for
providing junior & middle level managers privileges of workman: not yet passed)

Unions in Crisis: Causes

Unipolar world and Post-capitalist society
Unitarist/individualized IR: gold-collar WM
Declining employmentautomation
Emergence of service organizations
New tech.white-collar WMhome working
Emergence of lean organization
More specialization
Decline in core; rise in peripheral workforce
Employment of labour law consultants

Discussion

Questions for Bank of Baroda case

1. Explain the sequence of the case.
2. How does strategic HRM discourse explain an impressive degree of
collaboration between the two rival unions, the officers association and the
management, and their coming together on the contentious issue of workers
participation in Management?

3. What role does leadership play in fostering a participatory culture? Comment on

the leadership style of the BOB zonal manager in this regard?
4. Is the enthusiasm shown by the collaborating partners going to be short-lived
and confined only to BOB or can it become a way of work life of Madhya
Pradesh (MP) zone of Bank of Baroda (BOB) and also be replicated elsewhere
in public systems?

Note: You may go beyond the case to find out what is the recent situation in the
zone or update information.