Industrial Relations (IR) & Trade Unions

- Mandeep. D

Industrial Relations ( The Background)

The relations between the master craftsman & his co-workers The relations were personal, contacts were close, disputes were settled amicably

Industrial Relations
The personal relations came to a virtual end in modern industry as a result of dynamism in economic relationship.

Consequently the old master servant relationship gave place to an improved version of the same thing called employer-employee relations commonly known as Industrial Relations.

Industrial Relation
Industrial Relations, includes .. individual relations and joint consultations between employers and work people .. at the place of work, collective relations between employers and their organisations and the trade unions and the part played by the State in regulating these relations. J H Richardson 1954

Industrial Relations
These relations can be Formal Informal and mixed

Industrial Relations

Formal Relations : - established among individual an an industry by the rules & regulations of the enterprise. - Formal relations are functional and are determined by the hierarchical order. ( supervisor & worker relationship)

Industrial Relations
Informal relations: - The Personal & individualized relations among the members of the management & employers are called informal relations.

( Between two workers)

Industrial Relations
Mixed Relations - neither formal nor informal - established between two persons in the course of the performance of their professional duties. - partly personal, partly functional ( mutual adjustment for relieving each pother for tea etc.) sense of belonging

Trade Unions
A trade union is an organization of employees formed on a continuous basis for the purpose of securing diverse range of benefits. It is a continuous association of wage earners for the purpose of maintaining and improving the conditions of their working lives.

Thus, a trade union can be seen as a group of employees in a particular sector, whose aim is to negotiate with employers over pay, job security, working hours, etc, using the collective power of its members.

Features of trade unions

Employers association (eg., Employers Federation of India, Indian paper mill association, etc.)

General labor unions

Friendly societies

Unions of intellectual labor (eg, All India Teachers Association)

It is formed on a continuous basis. It is a permanent body and not a casual or temporary one. They persist throughout the year.

It is formed to protect and promote all kinds of interests economic, political and social-of its members. The dominant interest with which a union is concerned is, however, economic.

Importance of Trade Unions

by helping in the recruitment and selection of workers. by inculcating discipline among the workforce by enabling settlement of industrial disputes in a rational manner promoting and maintaining national integration by reducing the number of industrial disputes incorporating a sense of corporate social responsibility in workers achieving industrial peace