Industrial Grievances

Industrial Grievances 2012
GRIEVANCE
A grievance is always a symbol of some malfunctioning or maladjustment. Grievance means any type of dissatisfaction or discontentment arising out of factors related to an employees job which he thinks is unfair. A grievance arises when an employee feels that something has happened or is happening to him who he thinks is unfair, unjust or inequitable.
ILO Definition
rievances are defined as breaches of the collective agreement, custom and practice, the statute law, common law, natural
justice or as any problem of a sufficient nature to cause a disturbance of the workplace equilibrium.
Factors Causing Grievances

Violation of managements responsibility such as poor working conditions. Violation of companys rules and regulations Violation of labour laws Violation of natural rules of justice such as unfair treatment in promotion, etc.
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Grievance Sources Of Grievance

Management Policies
Wage rates Leave policy Overtime Lack of career planning Role conflicts Lack of regard for collective agreement Disparity between skill of worker and job responsibility
Working Conditions
Poor safety and bad physical conditions Unavailability of tools and proper machinery Negative approach to discipline Unrealistic targets
InterInter-Personal Factors
Poor relationships with team members Autocratic leadership style of superiors Poor relations with seniors Conflicts with peers and colleagues
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TYPES OF GRIEVANCE
Individual Grievance
Most grievances affect one individual member and are therefore signed by them. Even by filing an individual grievance, your steward is helping all members by defending the agreement and the rights of all those covered by the agreement.
Group Grievance
Several members have been affected in the same way at the same time, so a grievance is filed for the entire group. For example, management changes the start time for all day-shift workers.
Policy Grievance
Here the union and not the individual file the grievance. This occurs when management is either in violation of the collective agreement or incorrectly interprets it, which may affect all members in the future. For example, management assigns a day worker to Even if the
work on an "off-shift" without regard to seniority.
worker has no objection, the union may file a grievance to establish and insure that seniority be respected in such cases.
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Principles Of Grievance Handling

Principles suggested by the Indian Institute of Personnel Management for addressing the grievance are as follows: a) A grievance should be dealt within the limits of the first line supervisor. b) The appellate authority should be made clear to the employee so that if he cannot get satisfaction from his immediate supervisor, he should know the next step. c) The grievance should be dealt with speed. d) In establishing a grievance procedure, if the grievance is against an instruction given by a superior in the interest of order and discipline, the instructions must be carried out first and then only employee can register his protest.
Recording The Grievance

A complaint formally enters the grievance procedure when it is presented in writing. The steward, who normally has the
responsibility for submitting the grievance for writing to the union, should check carefully to make sure the Six W's - WHO, WHEN, WHERE, WHY WHAT and WITNESSES of the grievance form are covered.
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WHO: Refers to the employee filing the grievance and the supervisor (if any) involved. WHEN: Refers to the time element. Often information
regarding more than one date is needed to complete the form properly: (1) the date on which the grievance is officially
written; (2) the time and date on which the grievance actually happened; (3) the date on which the grievance was submitted to the immediate supervisor (first or informal step of the grievance procedure); and, (4) the date on which the immediate supervisor gave a decision. WHERE: Refers to the exact place where the grievance took place - the department, aisle, office, terminal or plant. WHY: Refers to the reason the complaint is considered a grievance. The WHERE and WHY are described under the
section "Statement of Grievance" and must be clearly stated to obtain a clear picture of the facts. It is important to remember that it is possible to have a legitimate grievance without being able to point to a violation of a specific clause of the contract. WHAT: Refers to what should be done about the grievance - the corrective action desired and what adjustment is expected. WITNESSES: If a particular incident took place which gave rise to the grievance, the names of any witnesses who say what

occurred should be listed on the grievance form. This should include the address and phone number of all witnesses.
Disciplinary Action
For every misconduct and act of indiscipline, a manager will have to take disciplinary action against the concerned employee. However, there is no hard and fast rule to deal with indiscipline. The positive approach to discipline calls for self-discipline. To institute this kind of positive discipline among the subordinates the manager must ensure that: 1) Rules and regulations are reasonable, legitimate and clear. 2) Subordinates are involved in framing rules and regulations so
that they willingly accept them. 3) Prior and clear notice is given of the consequences of breaking rules. 4) There is consistency and uniformity of punishment. 5) Human personality is treated with dignity. 6) He or she, as a manager, should set high standards.
Informal Warning
When someone is not performing satisfactorily or is misbehaving at work the first priority should be to help them to improve. Have an informal discussion of the problem with them. Make sure they understand what they are doing wrong and what they have to do to

come up to standard. To remind yourself, make a brief note of the date on which the issue was discussed and what action was agreed.
Formal Warning
If the issue isnt resolved or the matter is very serious, you should tackle the matter more formally. Invite the employee to a meeting and have a formal discussion with him or her. The employee has the right to be accompanied If you are by not a colleague with or trade the union
representative.
satisfied
employees
explanation you should write the employee a letter setting out the problem, what you expect him or her to do about it, when you expect to see an improvement and what you will do if there is no improvement. Where the employees poor performance or
misconduct is sufficiently serious, for example because it is having a serious harmful effect on the business, it may be appropriate to issue a final written warning. If the situation still does not improve, and you feel further action against the employee is necessary you should start the standard procedure. The three steps are: i. The written statement. ii. The hearing. iii. The appeal meeting.
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The Written Statement

You must prepare a statement setting out what the employee has done, or failed to do that may result in disciplinary action or dismissal. A copy of this statement must be sent to the employee and you must arrange a meeting to discuss the matter.
The Hearing
When arranging the meeting, bear in mind that: The meeting should be far enough ahead that the employee has had time to think about the written statement but it should not be delayed for too long. The employee has a duty to take all reasonable steps to attend. The employee has a statutory right to be accompanied to the meeting by a workmate or a trade union representative. The meeting must be at a reasonable time and in a convenient location. If the employee or person accompanying them is disabled you must take this into account and make reasonable provision to ensure that they can participate fully. If you havent already done so before writing, ensure you have carried out a thorough investigation of all the relevant circumstances of the case and communicate them to the individual before the meeting. After the meeting you should decide what to do and tell the employee what your decision is. At the same time you must offer the

employee the opportunity to appeal against that decision if it goes against him or her.
The Appeal Meeting

If the employee wants to appeal he or she must inform you. You should then arrange a meeting to hear the appeal. If possible a manager more senior than the manager who held the disciplinary hearing should hold the appeal meeting. If the size of your firm makes this impossible you will need to make an extra effort to deal with the matter impartially. Following the appeal meeting you must inform the employee of your decision, making clear that it is final.
Suspension
Suspension means prohibiting an employee from performing the duties assigned to him or her and withholding wages for so long as that prohibition continues. During the period of such prohibition the contract of employment between an employer and the employee is said to be under suspension, and the employee is said to have been suspended. In other words, suspension does not mean termination of service but only denial of work for some time, with or without pay, whatever the contract between the employee and employer permits. Procedural suspension is not considered as a punishment. Such suspension is made when disciplinary action is initiated or is about to
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be initiated against a person for any misconduct which may warrant any major penalty like discharge or dismissal.
Dismissal
The most severe disciplinary penalty is dismissal. Normally you should only dismiss if - during the entire disciplinary process you have: issued warnings Made it clear that if the employee has failed to improve their conduct or performance they could be dismissed. For gross misconduct you may be able to dismiss immediately without giving notice or pay in lieu of notice. However, summary dismissal is generally not recommended. Ideally, for any misconduct - gross or otherwise - you should: investigate the incident fully Suspend the employee on full pay during the investigation where necessary.
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Methods to Tackle Grievances

Informal Method Formal Method Open Door Policy Step ladder policy
Resolve grievances informally often a quiet word is all that is needed.
Use your grievance procedure when it is not possible or appropriate to resolve the matter informally.
Employee to let the employer know the grievance in writing Meeting to discuss the grievance Decide on appropriate action Allow the employee to appeal if not satisfied
Informal Method
Employees should aim to settle most grievances informally with their line manager.
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Many problems can be raised and settled during the course of everyday working relationships. This also allows for problems to be settled quickly.
Formal Method
Grievance procedure is a formal communication between an employee and the management designed for the settlement of a grievance. The formal grievance procedures differ from organization to organization. These should be set down in writing, be specific and clear.
Open Door Policy

Under this policy, the aggrieved employee is free to meet the top executives of the organization and get his grievances redressed. A place where everyone's voice is heard, where issues are promptly raised and resolved, and where communication flows across all levels of the company.
Open Door Policy

Such a policy works well only in small organizations. However, in bigger organizations, top management executives are usually busy with other concerned matters of the company.
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Step Ladder Policy

Under this policy, the aggrieved employee has to follow a step by step procedure for getting his grievance redressed. Whenever an employee is confronted with a grievance, he presents his problem to his immediate supervisor. If the employee is not satisfied with superiors decision, then he discusses his grievance with the departmental head The departmental head discusses the problem with joint
grievance committees to find a solution. However, if the committee also fails to redress the grievance, then it may be referred to chief executive.
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If the chief executive also fails to redress the grievance, then such a grievance is referred to voluntary arbitration where the award of arbitrator is binding on both the parties.
Grievance Procedure In Indian Industry

In the 16th session of Indian Labour Conference, a model for grievance procedure was drawn up. This model helps in creation of grievance machinery. Workers representatives are to be elected for a department. Management has to specify the persons in each department who are to be approached first and the departmental heads who are supposed to be approached in the second step. The Model Grievance Procedure specifies the details of all the steps that are to be followed while redressing grievances.
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MARUTI AND LABOUR UNREST 2001

Employee Relation
Relatively few problems with its labour force Great amount of trust Same uniform Same canteen High employee satisfaction in 80s and 90s; higher salaries
Wage Structure
High employee satisfaction in 80s and 90s; higher salaries Pre-revised (before 2001 strike) labour cost per vehicle in Maruti at Rs. 2,696 compared unfavourably with Rs. 1,617 of its closest rival Hyundai Marutis workers formed part of middle class, not working class Over two-thirds apparently owned flats/houses and cars The car market in India become highly competitive in late 1990s with almost all major players entering the Indian market with manufacturing of various models. So company suffered a decline of market share. As Marutis salary structure comparatively higher than most manufacturing companies, due to this competition and decline in profit, the company could
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not live up to the expectations of the employees. As a result worker unrest started to grow in the company.
Major Reasons Behind Labour Unrest

In the late 90s, Maruti had begun to feel the effects of competition in automobile industry With the change in management in mid- 1990s, when it became predominantly government controlled for a while, and the conflict between the Government and Suzuki may have been the cause of unrest among employees. When Management-Union talks broke down in September 2000, the workers start agitation: black badges to start with, and later, hunger strikes, tool down strikes etc. The management introduced a scheme, where incentives paid would be dependent upon the sales of the company both of cars and spare parts, which are not accepted by the union because productivity incentive could not be connected with car sales since that were not something the workers could determine. Introduction of SCANLON type incentive scheme. The union demanded reinstatement of the original incentive scheme which had been in place prior to 1995, according to which 65% of all savings in labour-cost above the norm set (at 41.5 cars per worker per year) was to be distributed to workers as an incentive bonus.
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Death of three persons in October 2000 Mandatory requirement of signing a good conduct undertaking
Worker Grievances
In September 2000 the Maruti Udyog Employees Union went on an indefinite strike if their demands were not met. The employees were demanding a new incentive scheme, improved pension scheme, better work environment And filling up of supervisory vacancies. However the management refused to accede to these demands. Production fell by around 40 % for a period of 3 months. During this period the engineers at the managerial positions manned the assembly lines to ensure that production does not stop completely. However, the government decided not to interfere directly and the management insisted that the workers stop the agitation and agree to adhere to the code of conduct specified by them. The strike ended in January 2001 with the union members agreeing to by the code of conduct. About half of the employees (40) suspended/terminated during the course of the agitation were not taken back on duty. Thus the management retained the upper hand after the strike ended and the work culture at Maruti changed significantly after this.
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Changes at Maruti
The sense of job security that the workers enjoyed at Maruti diminished. In subsequent years a number of non-performers were asked to opt for a voluntary Retirement (VRS) and by introducing VRS, 1251 jobs were reduced. De-recognized Maruti Udyog Employees Union (MUEU) by dismissing the union members and the MUEU was not allowed to conduct a single general body meeting after the lockout and recognized new union called Maruti Kamgar Union and it was set up in December 2000 with 28 members. The company started relying more on casual (contractual) labor to decrease its costs. The proportion of variable performance based pay out of the total increased significantly.
Conclusion
Lack of collective bargaining. The absence of convincing response from the management. Workers lacked the work ethics. Unlike the Japanese and Korean workers, Indian workers did not care about the impact of their agitation on the viability of the company and the attitude of customers.
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Instead.
o Management should have been more sensitive to labour and labour should have been equally concerned about the product market development. o Win-win situation would be based on the approach where management ceased to insist on good conduct undertaking and let the workers go to work gracefully and if the union took a long term view of the companys viability and competitiveness, moderated its scheme based on a composite criterion of productivity.
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Bibliography
Online Source:
http://www.aviva.com/ http://www.aviva.com/ viva www.google.co.in/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi http://www.docudesk.com htt //www.wikipedia.org http//www.wikipedia.org
Offline Source:
Annual Report of CINI for the year ending as on 31st March 2012. Organisation of Business Part 2, book for class XI. New Delhi: NCERT, 2006 BookTogether with Business Studies (XII) Book-1, New Delhi: Rachna Sagar Pvt Ltd. DelhiNisha Gupta, Business Studies for class XII, Delhi-32: Dhanpat Rai & Co.
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Industrial Grievances 2012

Factors Causing Grievances

F.Y B.Com (Honours) | SEM II