LABOUR RELATIONS IN INDIA
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8543.1970.tb00583.x |
| Published date | 01 November 1970 |
| Author | B. K. Chandrashekar |
| Date | 01 November 1970 |
LABOUR RELATIONS IN INDIA
REPORT
OF
THE
NATIONAL
COMMISSION
ON
LABOUR,
1969
B.
K.
CHANDRASHEKAR*
THE
last two or three years have been eventful for industrial relations in
three countries, Britain, Canada and India. The Donovan Commission
in Britain reported in 1968, the Canadian Task Force on Labour Relations
produced its excellent report in the same year, and in 1969, the National
Commission on Labour in India gave its rep0rt.l This article confines
itself to a fairly detailed review of the Indian Report.
The report, running into five hundred pages, makes basically two
major recommendations. They are, the creation of
an
independent
Industrial Relations Commission, modelled on the British industrial
relations commission but with greater powers, and, secondly,
a
statutory
right of recognition for trade unions for the purpose of collective
bar-
gaining. All the existing restrictions on the right to strike are found to be
justified, and new ones recommended, notwithstanding the Commission’s
aim of promoting the development of voluntary collective bargaining.
There are some minor recommendations
on
agricultural and other un-
organized labour, and a slight modification is proposed in the definitions
of ‘workman’ and ‘wages’.
ROLE
OF
LAW
IN
INDIAN
LABOUR
RELATIONS
It is best to start by giving
a
brief, if over-simplified, sketch of the
role of law in Indian labour relations.
There are about 108 statutes relating to industrial relations (para.
22.40)
and they seem to be escalating
at
an assured pace. Apart from the
factory and social security legislation, terms and conditions of work,
wages and industrial action are
all
closely regulated. The Industrial
Disputes Act of 1947, the main instrument of state intervention, aims at
prevention and settlement of disputes through conciliation or compulsory
adjudication proceedings or by institution of courts of enquiry. The Act
sets out the circumstances under which strikes and lock-outs are illegal and
also provides for advance notice before industrial action can take place.2
*
St. John’s College, Oxford
Government
of
India, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Rehabilitation, 1969. For
the Commission’s expansive terms of reference, see Chapter
1.
Various ‘Study Groups’ were
also appointed
by
the Commission to report on the state
of
industrial relations in different
regions. See Appendix
IX.
The Chairman of the Commission
was
Sri.
P.
B.
Gajendragadkar,
former Chief Justice of India.
See
Sections 21-25 of the Act of 1947
369
3
70
BRITISH
JOURNAL
OF
INDUSTRIAL
RELATIONS
Other legal provisions like the Central Civil Service Rules of 1964 place
severe restrictions on the government employees’ freedom to organize and
bargain.3
The Trade Unions Act of 1926, modelled on the British Trade Union
Act of
187
1, defines the rights of registered unions. Registered unions and
their members acquire immunity from criminal proceedings and civil
suits arising out
of
trade disputes.
The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act
of
1946, provides,
together with the Industrial Disputes Act
of
1947,
a substitute
for
collective
bargaining. It requires employers of industrial establishments employing
100
or
more workers to define in detail the conditions
of
employment
and make them known to the workers. These standing orders, defining
terms and conditions, should be certified by a government ~fficer.~ The
standing orders cover such matters as classification of workers, attendance,
leave and holiday regulations, definition and penalty for ‘misconduct’,
procedure for raising disputes and termination of the contract.
It is evident that such extensive intervention of the law is hardly
conducive to voluntary collective bargaining. The government need not
feel compelled to make
a
break with this arrangement and encourage
collective bargaining; the workers do not see any pressing need to join
and build strong unions; and the employers would be more reluctant than
the other two parties to bargain.
REVIEW
OF
EXISTING MACHINERY
On the other hand, how far has the law succeeded in ‘preventing and
settling’ disputes? In particular, what has been the role of conciliation
and voluntary arbitration, the two institutions which, as the government
has hoped all along, would stimulate the habit of negotiation and mutual
settlement and gradually render adjudication unnecessary?
For
it has been
the professed aim of the government, as now of the National Commission,
‘.
. .
to
encourage mutual settlement, collective bargaining and voluntary
arbitration
to
the utmost extent, and thereby
to
reduce to the minimum
.
.
.’
state intervention (para. 23.6, on the policy
of
the First Five Year
Plan)
.5
The first task
of
the Commission, therefore, was to review the working
Government employees are prohibited from joining
or
continuing to be members of an
association, the objectives
or
activities of which are prejudicial to the interests, sovereignty
and integrity of India
or
public order or morality. The Rules are framed under Article 309
and clause
5
of Article
148
of the Constitution
of
India.
’
Before certifying, the officer is required by the Act to submit the proposed standing orders
to the trade union or, in its absence, to the workers and consider their objections. He may then
modify or add to the employer’s draft. If not satisfied with the certification, the workers can then
raise an ‘industrial dispute’ under the Act of 1947. The Act
of
1946 thus confers on the employer
law-making power.
5The second and third plans repeated this objective;
see
paras. 23.7 and
9.
Also
see
S.
Kannappan, ‘Government Influence on Indian Industrial Relations’ in A.
M.
Ross
(ed.),
I&&l
Relations
and
Economic
Development,
1966.
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