What is industrial dispute?

Unrest and discontent among workers

which give rise to complicated situations
and difficult problems.
Conflict or difference of opinion between
management and workers.
Industrial disputes generally arise due to
tensions between labor and management,
and gives rise to more issues.
This may cause employees to not do their
work, and affecting the quality and
quantity of production.

Types of industrial disputes

Industrial disputes are

basically of two types
Strikes
Lockouts

Strikes

A legitimate weapon in hands of

workmen that is used to assert
bargaining power.
Strikes are a result of more fundamental
maladjustments, injustices and economic
disturbances.
A temporary termination of work by a
group of employees in order to express
grievances or to enforce a demand
concerning changes in work conditions.

Strikes are divided into three types.

They are Primary strikes, secondary
strikes and other strikes.

Strikes.
Primary strikes are generally against the
employer with whom the dispute exists.
They are:
Stay Away Strikes: In this strike workmen
stay away from the work place. They
organize rallies, demonstrations, etc.
Stay-in or sit Down Strikes : In this strike,
workmen come to the place , they stay at
the work place but they dont work.
Tools Down, Pen Down Strike : Here the
strikers lay down their tools in case of
factory workers , office workers lay down
their pens.

Continue..
Token or Protest Strikes : It is of very
short duration and is in nature of
signal for the danger ahead. In this
strike workers do not work for an
hour or a day.
Lightening or Wild cat strike : In this
strike, the strike is done without any
prior notice or with a shortest notice.
Go Slow : In this strike, the workers
intentionally reduce the speed of
work.


Work to rule: In this strike, the strikers undertake
the work according to rules or job description.
Picketing: It is an act of protesting by the
workmen in front of the premises of the employer.
Boycott: It aims at disrupting the normal
functioning of the enterprise.
Gherao: It is a physical blockade of a target
either by encirclement, intended to block from
and to a particular office, workshop etc.
Hunger Strike: This type of strike is resorted to
either by the leaders of the union or by some
workers all at a time for a limited period or up to
the period of settlement of disputes.

Secondary Strike
Secondary strikes are against a third
party. These strikes are sympathetic
strikes.
Other Strikes
These strikes are in the form of
general, particular, political.

Lockouts
Closing of a place of business of
employment or the suspension of
work, or the refusal by the employer
to continue to employ any number of
persons employed by him.
However, termination of employment
or retrenchment, and prohibiting an
employee are not lockouts.

Prevention of Strikes
Incidence and frequency of strikes can
be minimised through persistent efforts
by management.
It requires well defined, precise and
clear policies.
Effective administration and timely
implementation of defined policies.
Effective two-way communication
system.
Suitable grievance handling procedure.

Causes of industrial Disputes

Causes of Industrial disputes may be
grouped into four categories.
Industrial Factors
Managements Attitude towards
workers
Government Machinery
Other Causes

Industrial Factors
(i) An industrial matter relating to
employment, work, wages, hours of
work, privileges, the rights and
obligations of employees and employers,
terms and conditions of employment.
(ii)(ii) An industrial matter in which both
the parties are directly and substantially
interested.
(iii) Disputes arising out of unemployment,
inflation, change in the attitude of
management.

Management Attitude Towards

Labor
(i) Managements unwillingness to talk over any dispute
with their employees.
(ii) Managements unwillingness to recognize a particular
trade union , delegating enough authority to the
representatives, etc.
(iii) unwillingness to negotiation and settlement of
disputes.
(iv) Managements insistence to take care of
recruitments, promotion etc without consulting the
concerned employees
(v) Managements unwillingness to provide services and
benefits to its employees

Government Machinery
It is ineffective and unsatisfactory due to
various reasons like their irrelevancy in
the context of the challenges of present
industrial climate/culture, incapability of
understanding and answering imperatives
of development, improper and inadequate
implementation by many employers.
The governments conciliation machinery
has settled a very negligible number of
disputes .

Other Causes
Affiliation of the trade unions with a
political party, where the latter may
instigate the trade unions to conduct
strikes, lockouts , gheraos etc.
Political instability, centre- state relations,
sometimes result into industrial conflict.
Other potential factors like corruption in
industry and public life, easy money, etc
can also result into industrial disputes.

Consequences of industrial
disputes

Loss of Output
Decline in the demand for goods and services
Lasting loss to the workers
Increase in indebtedness
Negligence of health of family members
Problem to consumers
Loss to the management/employer
Bad effect on labor relations
Obstruction to economic growth

Settlement of Disputes
Whatever may be the cause of industrial
disputes, the consequences are harmful to
all stakeholders-management, employees,
economy and the society.
Employees would be hard hit as the
disputes may lead to lockouts and
consequent loss of wages and even jobs.
Various methods are available for resolving
disputes. Most important of them are :

Collective
Bargaining

Code of
Discipline

Grievance
Procedure

Arbitration
Dispute
Settlement
Conciliation

Consultativ
e
Machinery

Adjudicatio
n

Arbitration
A process in which a neutral third
party listens to the disputing parties,
gathers information about the dispute,
and then takes a decision which is
binding on both the parties. The
conciliator simply assists the parties
to come to a settlement, whereas the
arbitrator listens to both the parties
and then gives his judgment.

Types of arbitration
There are two types of arbitration.
Voluntary Arbitration:
In voluntary arbitration the arbitrator is appointed
by both the parties through mutual consent and the
arbitrator acts only when the dispute is referred to
him.
Compulsory Arbitration:
Implies that the parties are required to refer the
dispute to the arbitrator whether they like him or
not. Usually, when the parties fail to arrive at a
settlement voluntarily, or when there is some other
strong reason, the appropriate government can
force the parties to refer the dispute to an arbitrator.

Process of Arbitration
1) The labor union generally takes initiative to go for
arbitration. when the union decides, it notifies the
management.
2) The union & the management select the potential
arbitrator by carefully studying the previous decisions
given by the particular arbitrator, to detect any biases.
3) After the arbitrator is selected, the time & place for
hearing will be determined, the issue to be resolved
will be presented to the arbitrator in a document that
summarizes the questions to be decided, any
contracts restrictions that prohibit the arbitrator from
making an award that would change the terms of
existing contract.
4) Each side represents its case at the hearing.
5) Each party has to submit formal written statements.

.
Witness , cross-examination, transcripts
& legal counsel may be used.
After hearing, the arbitrator studies the
materials submitted and reaches the
decision within 30 60 days.
The decision given usually is a written
opinion mentioning the reasons.
The report is submitted by the arbitrator
to the appropriate government

Advantages of
Arbitration
It is established by the parties themselves
and therefore both parties have good
faith in the arbitration process.
The process in informal and flexible in
nature.
It is based on mutual consent of the
parties and therefore helps in building
healthy Industrial Relations.

Disadvantages:
Delay often occurs in settlement of
disputes.
Arbitration is an expensive procedure
and the expenses are to be shared
by the labor and the management.
Judgment can become arbitrary
when the arbitrator is incompetent or
biased.

Conciliation

Conciliation is a process by which the

representatives of workers and employers are
brought together before a third party with a
view to persuading them to arrive at an
agreement by mutual discussion between
them. The third party may be an individual or a
group of people. The third party may also be
called as mediators.
In Conciliation , the ultimate decision rests
with the parties themselves but the conciliator
may offer a solution to the dispute acceptable
to both the parties and serve as a channel
communication. The parties may accept his
recommendation or reject it.

.
If the conciliation fails, the next stage
may be compulsory adjudication or
the parties may be left with their own
choice. Incases where a settlement is
arrived at, they can record the
settlement and in case of failure of
the conciliatory negotiations, they
can send a failure report to the
appropriate government

Works Committee`
Every industrial undertaking
employing 100 or more workers is
under an obligation to set up a works
committee consisting equal number of
representatives of employer and
employees. The main purpose of such
committees is to promote industrial
relations.

Pre-independence Labour
After take over, a laws
series of industrial
relations legislation was introduced with
primary objective of England protected and
bonded labour.
Two important industrial relation legislation
of that era were;
Employers and workmen dispute Act 1860
Indian factories Act 1881
After first world war labour unrest increased
and there were repeated strikes at that time.
Labour-management were given importance
first time in subcontinent.

Post-independence Labour
laws
After independence Pakistan inherited
following laws from British India;
Trade Union Act 1926
Factories Act 1934
Industrial Employment Act 1946
Industrial Dispute Act 1947
These four laws provided basis for labour
laws and policy making in country.
Industrial Dispute Act 1947 was
replaced by Industrial Dispute
Ordinance 1959 by Ayub Khan.

The legislation withdrew right of strikes

in an indirect manner.
Workers could not go on strikes without
prior notice nor could they strike when
matter was pending before conciliator
or court.
Industrial Dispute Ordinance 1959
changed system; more enterprises were
included in public utility and strikes
were banned.
Compulsory adjudication system made
workers going from one court to