INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

An Introduction

A V Raman
 RECAPITULATION
We have studied HRM as a process Starting from Herbaline, SRF, BA and other

01
which has specific interdependent
interventions onboarding to exit
throughout an employee’s lifecycle-
02 cases we looked at the dilemmas of the
protagonists their constraints and possible
solutions to their problems in the real
that impact how an organisation’s business world pertaining to a specific
human resources are managed, aspect of HRM
deployed and utilised to align individual
and organisational goals effectively.

We looked at each component of HRM We looked at HRM as a set of rules and

03 and visited the techniques underlying

their implementation and the
fundamentals underlying them such as
04
job analysis and how to go about it.
policies-from the perspective of an
recipient and from a executor and
deployed using examples and role plays
and the practical implications it has on
all of us
 RECAPITULATION
Within HRM we looked at performance man
We also looked at HRM as behavioural

05 set of assumptions on how to manage

meaning and how HR processes
operate within an organisational culture
[Happiest minds example]
06 agement, BARS and compensation, the
cafeteria approach and compa-ratio in
particular

Finally we looked at HR how the it is impacted by changing

understanding of work-work from home, crowd-working
IR is an exchange of interests
The employer extracts the effort from the employee in
1 return for a living wage.

At the heart of IR lies the ‘why’ of the employment relationshi

2 p -- why should an employee work
-- what should an employer expect an employee?

It is built on structured antagonism[why structured because

there are definite parameters and terms of reference] that is
3 concurrently cooperative and yet hostile between employer
and employee. Both the employer and employee bicker but
both cannot do without each other.
 Lets get to defining
INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

IR is both short It pertains to both It seeks to It deals with the

term continual employees and critically evaluate total interactional
incessant the underlying dynamics of
employers and
activity and is causes and workers,
their
considers the resolve any machinery and
relationship with
employment conflict managers or in
each other.
relationship as discrepancies other words the
It studies each
its starting arising out this labour process.
party’s rights and
point. duties employment
arising out of the relationships.
employment
relationship.
At the crux of IR is the question why do people work, how do they work, what
skills they bring in for their work and the wage they get paid in return for their work.
 Key Features of IR
4 It is a rule
making process
3 and an
Industrial
relations is both a exchange of
2 interests.
contextual, day-to
Industrial relations
1 day activity and a
studies the
process
Industrial employee -employer
relations relationship
is Therefore, workers
multidisciplinary. require
Sociology, representation to
economics and take up their cause
law are its mother or grievances.
disciplines.
Four fundamental operative foundations of IR
The politics of the employment relationships-structural class inequality, unethical
behaviour from management and the breakdown of trust.

Conflicts arising out of economic disparity either based on perception or discrimination

on wages

Institutional distrust arising out of failure of the courts and the state for instance the
ad sums it up–green ply chalta rahe chalta rahe!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqCfX5k0NIo

Interactional dynamics, the manner in which employer employee interactions impact an

employee in his career IR is now called as employment relations in the post industrial work
place[recall class discussion] and seeks to understand the mechanics of employer
employee communication, power and subjectivity, how do employees manage themselves. It
delves deep into how employees are sought to manage themselves and how managerial
policies and the manner in which every employee is socialised into thinking an acting
according to a particular manner affect the employment relationship.
MAIN ACTORS in the IR theatre
 Who are Trade Unions?
• Trade Unions[TU] fight against and negotiate with employers to establish
rights which entail a corresponding set of obligations through collective
agreements and by being vigilant to day to day working practices. These
rules and collective agreements secure to employees.

• The right to a fixed rate of wages

• The right to not to work longer than a certain number of hours

• The right to not to be dismissed without consultation or compensation.

• TU’s work towards creating a social order in industry embodied in a

code of industrial rights and enabling workers to gain greater control
over their working lives– how through collective bargaining.
Two regular activities generally associated
with trade unions
There are broadly two main ‘political activities of trade unions
industrial government and industrial management.

‘Industrial Government’
refers to viewing collective
bargaining as a constitution
making institution which
makes rules governing the
workers–employers/governme
nt relationship in order to
prevent one party being
taken by surprise.
‘Industrial management’
Is the participation of union
representatives
in the management function
of the enterprise in the areas
of mutual, rather than
Competing interests.
Fundamental characteristics of trade unions
• The TU’s are primarily responsible to their own members and their welfare.
• Their primary commitment is towards their members not the firm or any national
order
• The union collects subscription fees for protecting the interests of their members
as they see it and not in accordance with interests seen as best by other
members
• The primary activity of a TU leadership is representation of their members. No
other organisation can do this. Trade Unions promote sectional interests the
interests of the population they intend to organise.
• From this premise flows the claim that Trade Unions exist to promote the interes
ts of the members they claim to represent.
• So what do exactly TU’s do-It can be said that TU’s primarily engage in the
activity of Collective Bargaining.
Outcomes sought by Trade Unions continue
• Wages and salaries
• Working Conditions
• Discipline
• Personnel Policies
• Employee Welfare
• Employee Employer relations
• Forms a core component Negotiating machinery
• Safe guarding organisational health and the workers’ interest in the
industry
 Summarising the outcomes typically sought by
trade unions
• Shorten the working hours.
• Regulation of wages and raising them and regulating a wide range of
• issues pertinent to members job and work.
• Ensure better working conditions and prevent the employer from tightening the lab
our process and deskilling labour.
• Unity is strength and therefore joint mobilisation of workmen against employer
• Unions work towards ensuring that employers do not have a free hand in
their decision making and authority and strive to lessen or mitigate the
dependence of employees on market fluctuations or managerial whims.
• This they do by constantly monitoring employer activity and adhering to
rules which protect material standards of living, security and status of workers.
 Key characteristics of
Indian trade unions

Outside Multiple Unions Rivalry Chaotic finances

Leadership

Absence of paid Economism Heterogeneous Working Conditions

office bearers labour constituencies
 Recapitulating the functions of a
trade union
• A TU is an association either of employees or employers or of independent workers

• It is a relatively permanent formation of workers and is never a temporary or casual

form of workers. It is formed on a continuous basis.

• It is formed for securing certain economic [wages, working and living conditions],
social benefits for members. Collective strength immunises workers from ad-hoc
managerial action.

• It emphasises joint-coordinated and collective bargaining.

 Collective Bargaining
• Collective Bargaining-Collective Bargaining is a method of
determining terms and conditions of employment by negotiation
between representatives of the employer and union
representatives of the employees.
• The results of this bargaining process is set forth in a collective
bargaining agreement .
• Collective bargaining determines the terms and conditions of the
employment for all workers in the bargaining unit. It is different
from negotiations between a single employee and employer.
 How does Collective Bargaining{CB}
Operate?
• CB entails negotiation between employers and representatives of
employees
• The outcome of CB the collective agreement is a compromise settlement arising
out of power conflict[remember first class multiple interest groups, reconciling
multiple priorities of varying constituencies of workers and managers.
• CB entails an indirect regulation of the relationship between management and
employee through the TU. It is a political process encompassing more than
economic issues and may be contrasted with other rule-making processes
which have different sources of authority, unilateral regulation(by
management, employees or TU) and state regulation (by legislation or
government policy).
 What is a bargaining unit?

• The Bargaining Unit is the group of employees that the union is

authorised to represent and bargain collectively. If the entire
organisation is bargaining unit than the union will represent
non-supervisory, non-managerial, non-confidential employees
though the union may be oriented towards blue-collar workers.

• All of you who are entering as prospective employees are white

collar employees and those supervisors who lie between managers
and worker requiring manual work are known as blue collar
employees.
 What are the key aspects of the phrase
mentioned before?
• Collective Bargaining is a method of determining terms and
conditions of employment and regulating the employment
relationship which utilises the process of negotiation between
representatives of management and employees intended to result
in an agreement which may be applied across to a group of
employees.
• CB is a process of interaction between management and the Union
and is a method of job regulation distinguished from others by the
system of joint authorship of the rules it produced because -management and
the TU discuss, disagree and eventually reach a time-bound agreement
 What is a strike?
• A strike is an outcome of discontent and long simmering conflict and one should not be
surprised by such a development.
• It is more often than not an outcome arising out of managerial apathy, stupidity and
incompetence and its symptoms are evident long before which you will need to realise well
in advance.
• A strike or other individual forms of industrial action should not be regarded as the collective
equivalent of the individual’s refusal to accept employment or resignation from employment,
when the terms of employment are not satisfactory.
• A wildcat strike on the other hand is spontaneous and abrupt. The Cambridge English diction
ary defines it as sudden strike (= act of refusing to work as a protest) without any warning by
the workers and often without the official support of the unions
• Industrial employment contracts combined with the firm intent at least on the past of the
great majority of workers involved are with the intention of not terminating their contracts.
They are a means to an end.
Means of settling disputes

Conciliation

Arbitration Adjudication
[court verdict]
 Sources of workers wages

Collective Legislation Adjudication Court Pay

bargaining ruling commissions
and wage
board
All the best!