industrial relations system in India

INTRODUCTION

“Industry” could be referred as an activity of production which is carried out by employed individual or number of individuals. Relations means alliance or interconnection that exist among employers and workmen within the premises of the factory. A proper definition is given by J. Henry “Industrial relation is an art of living together for the purpose of production” ( http://www.mba-mentor.com/history-of-industrial-relations, on 22/04/2014).
). Industry relation is broad concept and is being followed by approximately most of the countries in the world. Hence, Australia and My home country India is of no exception. In the below paragraphs I am going to discuss and compare industrial relation policies and developments of both countries from certain point of views.

Firstly, as per history point of view, Australian industrial laws has its root in England. Because in 1890, many big strikes were the reason to feel the need of special tribunal for industrial relations. There were severe conflicts arose among capital and labour. In 1901, the Australian Commonwealth came into existence and in 1904, the Australia’s first federal industrial Tribunal was established under the act passed by Federal Parliament named “Conciliation and Arbitration act”. In the beginning the Tribunal was able to solve problems related to only Wages or interstate disputes. A fundamental change was observed after the consideration of Hancock review the Government repealed this act and replaced it with Industrial Relation Act 1988. In order to amend this act in 1996 Workplace Relation Act got Royal accent. Furthermore, in 2005 the Australian parliament made amendments in 1996’s Act and named it Work Choice Act 2005 (http://www.airc.gov.au/about/ourhistory/overview.pdf
, on 22/.4/2014). On the other hand until the beginning of 20th century there was Master and Servant relations among employer and employee in India because of English ruling (http://www.slideshare.net/rahul9288/introduction-of-industrial-relation, on 22/04/2014).Indian industrial evolution was divided into two main time segments; pre independent and post independent period. In 1924 a Trade union Act was established and thousands of Union were came into existence and then automatically disputes arose between the workers and higher level. In 1947, Factory Act was passed in order to solve the disputes within factory premises. Until the advent Liberalization in 1992, Indian industrial relation system was filled with many labour legislations e.g. Dispute act 1947 and Industrial relations Act 1971 etc. After 1992, industrial relations in India started to change and it happened only because of Globalization (http://industrialrelations.naukrihub.com/industrial-relation-policy.html
, on 23/04/2014). This Liberalization wave gave rise to industrial relations, all the workforce policies were changed and all industries were pressurized to follow Decentralization which means the importance of worker went up. They started to feel security in their jobs (http://www.uri.edu/research/lrc/research/papers/Ali_Globalization.pdf
, on 23/04/2014).
As per above Definition we know good relationship is an art to increase productivity so every these both countries have made many amendments in their legislation to make it more perfect. Thus, the first and foremost concern is Safety. In Australia, as per National OHS Strategy plan 2002-2012, the target was set to reduce injuries and fatality up to 40% and 20% respectively and the good news is that in 2011 survey it was observed that 28% reduction was seen in injuries at workplace whereas 47% almost Double of estimated reduction was seen in fatality which is a sign of good relation among industry workforce (http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publications/Documents/758/Key-WHS-Statistics-2013.pdf
, on 23/04/2014). In the contrast, as per review of NCBI, although India has Health and safety system but the problem is that the OHS academic base is very sensitive and week. The OHS system only apply to a Minority of workforce which further create a less efficient and effective industrial relations. As per this Review India need a strong OHS system with excellent OHS legislations to make good relationship inside the factory premises (Joshi T.K., & Smith K.R., 2002). Moreover, (Pingle S., 2012) stated in a review that Indian government in 2009 made a policy for OHS at workplace but it has not been implemented so far. The implementation of such workforce welfare policies is delayed which is further making conflicts.
Now the Questions arise here is that is there only one issue of health and safety? Are there any other things that a government or industry should keep in mind in order to make the relationship better? My answer is yes. Australian workplace relations programmes that is established in the Fair work act 2009 provides certain other amenities to the workforce so that they can work efficiently and effectively because they feel secured. For Instance Fair Entitlement Guarantee Scheme which provides entitlements to eligible worker when employer become insolvent or shutdowns his factory (https://employment.gov.au/workplace-relations-australia
, on 23/04/2014). In India, as per Factory Act 1948, all welfare facilities are provided to workforce for making better relations inside the premises of the factory for example, chapter (v) of this act describes all the welfare facilities available to workforce (http://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/WEBTEXT/32063/64873/E87IND01.htm#a011, on 24/04/2014). Despite these legislations, when a dispute arises the major problem that a worker mostly faces is slow response which further results in delay to get the entitlements.
Furthermore, Industrial relationship can be made more concrete among employers and employees when physical sex status e.g. male or female is taken into consideration because apart from many industrial relations laws there must be some special legislation only for women security and safety. As per Ministry of women labour (http://www.labour.nic.in/content/division/about-women-labour.php, on 24/04/2014) In India, approximately 80% women are working in industrial area which is 32.2% of the total workforce. Indian government has made a list of protective provisions for these women workforce. For instance, Prohibition of night work, Safety/Health measures, Maternity benefit, Prohibition of Sub-Terrain work etc. Moreover government has made it compulsory for every industry to give Vocational Training to Women. This programme actually motivate women workers to work in industries at higher level by providing them required knowledge and skills. In addition, Indian government has implemented Equal Remuneration Act 1976 for women workforce to provide them equality. Similarly, Australia is also not behind, Mining Industry is trying to encourage women to join mining field. As this industry requires more physical power and long hour shifts, women are less interested. But in order to stimulate women relations in industry the mining industry is providing many special facilities to women workers e.g. Flexibility in shifts, parent-friendly working time table, special uniforms which are appropriate to women, onsite children, equal pay rate and couples on site housing etc. These type of facilities are increasing the opportunity for women to join workplace (http://www.miningoilgasjobs.com.au/mining/your-mining-lifestyle-guide/women-in-mining.aspx
, on 24/04/2014). Other benefit is parental leave for 18 weeks which also motivates workforce to co-operate with employer because worker feels secure (https://employment.gov.au/workplace-relations-australia
, on 24/04/2014).
In Australia, because of better relations in industries among workforce the productivity ratio has gone upward. A good relation has resulted in increase in their capacity to produce more than ever before. Moreover, higher productivity ratio is also helping the workforce to improve their life style, health and affordability because their wage rate has also risen. As per statement of Fair work Act Review, the industrial system should be in the favour of workforce so that better productivity can be obtained by providing choices and flexibilities in their work. As per this statement, for the last 30 years the average annual labour productivity growth rate is 1.6%. In this report, it is clearly mentioned that the productivity growth rate because of good industrial relations is rising at national level (lhttp://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/biz_res/oirwww/pdfs/NSW_Position_Statement_FW_Act_040412.pdf, on 25/04/2014).
Now at last, I believe that whether it is Australia or India, despite many laws and legislation there are some other factors that play vital role in making strong relations among workforce inside the industry. Sue Fox mentioned in his book “Business Etiquette For Dummies” that an employee is a priceless asset to his/her company because company’s performance is based on productivity of employees. He states that employees are not slaves or electronic devices that could be discarded after use. They are human and they required respect. Apart from their working life they also have social life. They want to be appreciated when they do work hard. Moreover, they just want to feel involvement and existence in the organization. Mr. Fox describes that some time conditions go wrong e.g. employee was not able to meet deadlines etc. in these circumstances an employer can make the relations more concrete by being polite. Rather than telling, employer should a ask the problem that are faced by his/her employees. (http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-develop-good-relations-with-your-employees.html ). Another Author states that a manager should keep in touch with his/her employees whether it is for work life or their own life. He/ She must know his/her employees personally (Belzer L, 2012).

Conclusion
I have closely observed the factors that are making the industrial relations strong in both countries. I found some similarities and some week and strong points of both countries related to industrial relationship. First of all, I would like talk about conclude origin of industrial relation of both countries. English were the establisher of industrial Legislation in both countries. Moreover the time of establishment of laws were also same i.e. nearly in the beginning of 20th century. So it means both countries have same old legislations. But, India is far behind to implement these legislation properly as compare to Australia. Secondly, we know that Health and safety is pre-requisite for any workplace. But from the above written data it is clear that Indian employer are reluctant to spend money on OH&S where in Australia it is the first and foremost policy to provide better safe environment to workforce. Now, if I compare the another factor that is sexual status, as per the statistic more Indian women are getting involvement in workforce which means they are building good relations with their employers. They are getting good facilities which are always primary concern for women. Australia has also showed good proportion of women in industrial area.
Recommendations: After concluding the whole data I would like to recommend some suggestions without any Bias.
1. I know India is under-developing country. Despite it has many legislation for making industrial relations more reliable, it need to make some fast track system so that every case (any industrial dispute) can be solved as soon as possible and verdict would be objective.
2. OH&S in India should be made the primary requirement for workplace so that better health can be maintained in the industry which would definitely give higher productivity.
3. For all employers, it should be considered that Laws and legislations are only made to prevent or solve the conflicts but if there is a friendly relations among employers and employees then there would be no conflict.

Referencing

http://www.airc.gov.au/about/ourhistory/overview.pdf

http://www.mba-mentor.com/history-of-industrial-relations

http://www.slideshare.net/rahul9288/introduction-of-industrial-relation

http://industrialrelations.naukrihub.com/industrial-relation-policy.html

http://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/sites/SWA/about/Publications/Documents/758/Key-WHS-Statistics-2013.pdf http://www.labour.nic.in/content/division/about-women-labour.php http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12028949#

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22790480

https://employment.gov.au/workplace-relations-australia

http://www.uri.edu/research/lrc/research/papers/Ali_Globalization.pdf

http://www.miningoilgasjobs.com.au/mining/your-mining-lifestyle-guide/women-in-mining.aspx

http://www.industrialrelations.nsw.gov.au/biz_res/oirwww/pdfs/NSW_Position_Statement_FW_Act_040412.pdf

http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/print-edition/2012/06/01/build-better-relationships-employees.html?page=all