INDUSTRIAL DISPUTE,

KINDS OF INDUSTRIAL
DISPUTES,
INTRODUCTION
 In common parlance, dispute means difference or
disagreement of strife over some issues be­tween the
parties.
 As regards industrial dispute, since its settlement
proceeds as per the legal provi­sions contained in the
‘Industrial Disputes’ Act, 1947, hence it seems
pertinent to study the concept of industrial disputes
from a legalistic angle.
 According to Section 2 (k) of the Industrial Disputes Act,
1947, the term ‘industrial dispute’ means “any dispute
or difference between employers and employers or
between employers and workmen, or between workmen
and workmen, which is connected with the employment
or non- employment or the terms of employment and
conditions of employment of any person”
 The above definition is too broad and includes
differences even between groups of workmen and
employers engaged in an industry.
 However, in practice, industrial disputes mainly relate

to the difference between the workmen and the

employers. 
 Dispute differs from discipline and grievance. While

discipline and grievance focus on individuals, dispute

focuses on collectivity of individuals.
 In other words, the test of industrial dispute is that the

interest of all or majority of workmen is involved in it.

 The following principles judge the nature of an

industrial dispute:
1. The dispute must affect a large number of workmen
who have a community of interest and the rights of
these workmen must be affected as a class.
2. The dispute must be taken up either by the
industry union or by a substantial number of
workmen.
3. The grievance turns from individual complaint
into a general complaint.
4. There must be some nexus between the union
and the dispute.
5. According to Section 2A of the Industrial Disputes
Act, 1947, a workman has a right to raise an
industrial dispute with regard to termination,
discharge, dismissal, or retrenchment of his or her
service, even though no other workman or any trade
union of workman or any trade union of workmen
raises it or is a party to the dispute.
Forms of Industrial Disputes:
 Industrial dispute may take any form like strike, lock
outs, gherao, bandh etc. It may be violent at times
leading to loss of life and property. It disturbs the
public life also.
 There are losses of man-hours and production
which enterprise has to suffer.
 It may take any form, organized or unorganized.
Organized from of industrial dispute may lead to
strike, gherao, demonstrations, boycott etc. but
unorganized form of dispute leads to low
productivity, low morale, frustration etc.
 Any kind of dispute leads to hampering industrial
growth. It becomes necessary to resolve industrial
disputes as early as possible.
 1. Strike:
 Non acceptance of employees’ demand leads them

to stop the work and proceed on strike. Strike is

the last and important weapon with the employee
which is used when all hopes of fulfillment of their
demand are shattered and there is no way left to
them but to resort to strike.
 Strike is initiated and supported by the employee

union. It is stopping of work by the employees or a

group of employees undertaken to pressurize the
management to accept their demands.
 It can continue for any number of days. It is a

complete cessation of work by the employees.

 Strikes can be of following types
 (a) Economic Strike:
 Economic strike is one which is undertaken by the

members of the trade union for fulfillment of their

economic demands such as rise in wages, bonus,
and other facilities such as health, education, food
at concessional rates etc. and other conditions of
work.
 (b) General Strike:
 General strike is one which is undertaken by all the

employees belonging to all unions and in regions

in the entire industry.
 General strike is resorted to by the employees for

fulfillment of common demands. It can be an

extension of sympathetic strike.
 (c) Sympathetic Strike:
 It is the strike undertaken by the members of one
union to support the demands of striking
employees of the other union.
 This is undertaken to express sympathy with the
striking employees and their demands. If this
sympathy strike is extended further it can take the
form of general strike. This is also known as token
strike.
 (d) Sit Down Strike:
 It is the strike when employees stop working but do
not leave the place of work. They sit at the place of
work.
 This form of strike is also known as pen down or
tools down strike. They do not interfere in the work
but they themselves do not work at all.
 (e) Go slow Strike:
 The strike where employees do not stop work but

do not work with enthusiasm.

 The speed of their work is very slow which results

in low output. They are doing this in an organized

way.
 This puts employers under pressure which is the

object of strike.
 2. Gherao:
 Gherao means to surround. The members of the union
surround the Chief executive and do not allow him to
leave the place where he is surrounded or gheraoed.
 Usually this place is his office. They create a human
chain around him restricting him to move. Gheraos are
very common means of protest.
 Any group can do this any time if they are dissatisfied.
It should take the violent turn.
  In this method a collective action aimed at preventing
members of the management from leaving the office.
 This can happen outside the factory premises too. The
persons who are ‘gheraoes’ are not allowed to move
for a long time, sometimes even without food or water
 The National Commission on Labour, while
refusing to accept it as a form of industrial protest,
opined that gheraos tend to inflict physical duress
(as against economic pressure) on the persons
affected and endanger not only industrial harmony
but also create problems of law and order
 Sometimes, the blockade or confinements are cruel

and inhuman like confinement in a small place

without light or fans and for long periods without
food and water.
 The persons confined are humiliated with abuses

and are not allowed even to answer “calls of

nature”.
 The object of gherao is to compel the gheraoed

persons to accept the workers’ demands without

recourse to the machinery provided by law.
 Workmen found guilty of wrongfully restraining
any person or wrongfully confining him during a
gherao are guilty under Section 339 or 340 of the
Indian Panel Code of having committed a
cognizable offence for which they would be liable
to be arrested without warrant and punishable with
simple imprisonment for a term which may be
extended to one month or with a fine up to Rs.
500, or with both.
 Gherao is a common feature even in educational

institutions.
 University officers sometimes gheraoed by the

employees / students to compel the officers to

submit to their demands.
  Lock Out:
 Lock out is resorted to by the employers to put
pressure on their employees. Lock out is undertaken
by the employers to force the employees to resume
work on the terms and conditions of employers.
 Lock out is an extreme step taken by the employers
to curb the militant activities of the unions.
 At times it becomes a trial of strength between the
employers and employees.
 Ordinarily, “lock-out” means the action of an
employer in temporarily closing down or shutting
down his undertaking or refusing to provide his
employees with work with the intention of forcing
them either to accept demands made by him or to
withdraw demands made by them on him.
 But the definition, given by the Industrial Disputes
Act, 1947, says:
 “Lock-out means the closing of a place of business of

employment or the suspension of work, or the refusal

by an employer to continue to employ any number of
persons employed by him.”
 Thus:

i. Lock-out is the closure of industrial undertaking

because of the existence of or apprehension of an
industrial dispute, violence and loss to his properties.
ii. It is suspension of employment relationship, in so
far as the employer refuses to give work to the
workmen until they yield to his demand or withdraw
their demands made on him; or because of closing of a
place of employment the suspension of the work.
iii. Lock-out is an antithesis/counterpart of a strike.
Just as the employees have a weapon in their hands
to put pressure on the employer by going on strike
so also, the employer has a weapon against the
employees to lock-out his premises and not to allow
the workers to come into work.
iv. Lock-out is used with some intention, i.e., to
coerce or force the workmen to come to terms.
Lock-out, thus, necessarily involves an overt act on
the part of the employer involving an element of
motive of ill-will.
In the absence of this overt act, the temporary
suspension of work would not amount to a lock-out
and the workmen cannot claim wages for the period
of closure.
 But the following does not constitute “Lock-Out”:
(a) Prohibiting an individual employee is not lock-
out.
(b) Termination of employment by retrenchment
does not amount to lock-out.
(c) Termination of services of more than one person
at the same time would not be lock­out.
(d) Declaration of lock-out by an employer merely
on the ground that the workmen have refrained from
attending to work.”
 4. Picketing:
 Picketing is a method resorted to by the employees

to attract attention of common men to the fact that

there exists a dispute between the management
and employees.
 Picketing is dissuading the employees from

reporting to work by some men at the gate of the

place of work.
 Picketing is to exhibit protest. It is not violent

activity.
 5. Boycott:
 The workers may boycott use of company’s

product. They may request the general public also

to do so. This adversely affects the sale 
 All the forms of disputes strike, bandhs, lock out etc.
adversely affect the industrial growth and enterprises have
to suffer a lot.
 Employees and management should settle the disputes
amicably without resorting to any of the above forms.
 As far as-possible a care should be taken that the things
should not so worsen that employees to proceed on
strikes etc.
 Good industrial relations is the key to success and growth
where both the parties gain, no one is to lose anything.
 The numbers of industrial disputes are on increase since
independence resulting into a tremendous loss of man-
hours and production.
 The need of the hour is to strengthen the industrial
relations and eliminate industrial disputes for better
industrial growth and prosperity.
Types of Industrial Disputes by ILO
 The ILO’ has classified the industrial disputes into two
main types.
 They are:

1. Interest Disputes
2. Grievance or Right Disputes.
 Interest Disputes:

 These disputes are also called ‘economic disputes’.

Such types of disputes arise out of terms and conditions

of employment either out of the claims made by the
employees or offers given by the employers.
 Such demands or offers are generally made with a view

to arrive at a collective agreement. Examples of interest

disputes are lay-offs, claims for wages and bonus, job
security, fringe benefits, etc.
2. Grievance or Right Disputes:
 As the name itself suggests, grievance or right disputes arise out

of application or interpretation of existing agreements or

contracts between the employees and the manage­ment. They
relate either to individual worker or a group of workers in the
same group.
 That’s way in some countries; such disputes are also called

‘individual disputes’. Payment of wages and other fringe benefits,

working time, over-time, seniority, promotion, demotion,
dismissal, discipline, transfer, etc. are the examples of grievance
or right disputes.
 If these grievances are not settled as per the procedure laid down

for this purpose, these then result in embitterment of the working

relationship and a climate for industrial strife and unrest.
 Such grievances are often settled through laid down standard

procedures like the provisions of the collective agreement,

employment contract, works rule or law, or customs /usage in
this regard.
 Besides, Labour Courts or Tribunals also adjudicate over

grievance or interest disputes.

 Generally, industrial disputes are considered as
‘dysfunctional’ and ‘unhealthy’.
 These are mani­fested in the forms of strikes and

lock-outs, loss of production and property,

sufferings to workers and consumers and so on.
 But, sometimes industrial disputes are beneficial as

well.
 It is the dispute mainly which opens up the minds

of employers who then provide better working

conditions and emoluments to the workers.
 At times, disputes bring out the causes to the

knowledge of the public where their opinion helps

resolve them.