The Industrial Relations Division deals with the following
labour legislations / schemes:
·
The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947
·
The Plantation Labour Act, 1951
Implementation
of the Scheme of Employees’ Participation in Management, 1983.
The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 came into existence
in April 1947. It was enacted to make
provisions for investigation and settlement of industrial disputes and for
providing certain safeguards to the workers.
The Act contains 40 sections divided into 7 chapters. Chapter – I deals with the title,
definitions, etc. Chapter – II contains
the various authorities under the Act.
These authorities include
Conciliation Officers, Labour Courts and Tribunals. Chapter – III contains the main scheme of the
Act such as reference of disputes to Labour Courts and Industrial
Tribunals. Chapter – IV lays down the
procedure, power and duties of the authorities constituted under the Act. Chapter – V contains provisions to prohibit
strikes and lock-outs, declaration of strikes and lock-outs as illegal, and
provisions relating to lay-off and retrenchment and closure. Chapter-VI contains provisions of various
penalties under the Act. Chapter–VII
contains miscellaneous provisions.
TRADE UNIONS (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2001
The Trade Unions Act, 1926 provides for registration
of trade unions of employers and workers and in certain respects, it defines
the law relating to registered trade unions.
It confers legal and corporate status on registered trade unions. The Act is administered by the concerned
State Governments. Certain provisions of
the Act were amended and given effect to w.e.f. 9.1.2002.
2. Some of the salient features of the
Trade Unions (Amendment) Act, 2001 are:-
(i)
No trade union
of workmen shall be registered unless at least 10% or 100, whichever is less,
subject to a minimum of 7 workmen engaged or employed in the establishment or
industry with which it is connected are the members of such trade union on the
date of making of application for registration.
(ii) A registered trade union of workmen shall
at all times continue to have not less than 10% or 100 of the workmen,
whichever is less, subject to a minimum of 7 persons engaged or employed in the
establishment or industry with which it is connected, as its members.
(iii) A provision for filing an appeal before
the Industrial Tribunal /
(iv) All office bearers of a registered trade
union, except not more than one-third of the total number of office bearers or
five, whichever is less, shall be persons actually engaged or employed in the
establishment or industry with which the trade union is connected.
(v) Minimum rate of subscription by members
of the trade union is fixed at one rupee per annum for rural workers, three
rupees per annum for workers in other unorganized sectors and 12 rupees per
annum in all other cases.
(vi) For the promotion of civil and political
interest of its members unions are authorized to set up separate political
funds.
·
The Plantation Labour Act, 1951 provides for the welfare of
plantation labour and regulates the conditions of work in plantations.
·
The Act is administered by the State Governments and is
applied to any land used as plantations which measures 5 hectares or more in
which 15 or more persons are working.
The State Governments are however, free to declare any plantation land
less than 5 hectares or less than 15 persons to be covered by the Act. It applies to all the plantation workers
whose monthly wages does not exceed Rs.750/- per month.
·
In every
·
The Act provides for setting up of canteens, creches,
recreational facilities suitable accommodation and educational facilities for
the benefit of plantation workers in and around the work places in the
plantation estate.
·
The Act provides that no adult workers and adolescent or
child shall be employed for more than 48 hours and 27 hours respectively a
week, and every worker is entitled for a day of rest in every period of 7 days.
SCHEME FOR PARTICIPATION OF WORKERS IN MANAGEMENT
In
December 1983, following a review of the progress of participative schemes in
industry, a new scheme was prepared and notified.
This
scheme is applicable to all central Public Sector enterprises, except those specifically
exempted. It envisaged constitution of
bipartite forums at shop and plant levels.
In enterprises considered suitable, it was also to be implemented at the
Board level. The mode or representation
of workers’ representatives was to be determined by consultation with the
concerned unions, any parity in representation between the management and
unions continued to be the norm.
The scheme brought within
the ambit of the councils a wider spread of work-related issues. At the plant level, the council could discuss
issues relating to personnel, Welfare, environment and community development,
plant operations and functioning, and also take up financial matters relating
to profit and loss statements, balance sheets, operating costs, plant financial
performance, labour and managerial costs, etc