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Table of Contents
Introduction
01. India
1.1 Evolution of the Indian Industrial Relations System 5
1.2 The Indian Labour market 5
1.3 The Indian Labour market flexibility 6
1.4 The Indian Trade Union 6
1.5 Number of Trade Union in India 6
1.6 Collective bargaining in India 7
1.7 Labour Legislation in India 7
02. Pakistan
2.1 Evolution of the Industrial Relations System in Pakistan (RFP, IRJ, 2000) 7
2.2 Trade Union in Pakistan 8
2.3 Scope of Collective Bargaining in Pakistan 8
2.4 Government and Employment Relations in Pakistan 8
2.5 Labour Legislation in Pakistan 9
2.5.1 The Industrial Relations Ordinance 1969 (IRO) 9
03. Bangladesh
3.1 Evolution of the Industrial Relations System in Bangladesh 9
3.2 Practice of Collective Bargaining in Bangladesh 10
3.3 Labour and Employment Legislation in Bangladesh 10
3.4 Structure of trade Union 11
3.5 Registered Trade Union in Bangladesh 11
Conclusion 12
References 13
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Introduction
Indian Sub-Continent was a British Colony which was called British India and now
three independent countries, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. It’s located in South
Asia and it was a part of British India until 1947. It became a separate province of
Pakistan in 1947, when the sub-continent was separated into two independent
sovereign, India and Pakistan. Bangladesh was broke away from Pakistan and became
an independent country in 1971.
The purpose of this report is to examine that the Evaluate and explain the role of
collective bargaining in the Indian Sub-continent. According to history, every society
has to face the fundamental economic problem and the planning of their organization.
Without central planning of organization, workers and their employers determine their
relationship through a series of independent decisions. It doesn’t mean the workers
are always happy with their job and or rates of pay. But it does mean that employee
and employers have a great deal of freedom in deciding to begin, change or end their
relationship. So, this report will explain that the system of employment relations in
the Indian sub-continent.
01. India
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1.3 The Indian Labour market flexibility
The National Labour Commission (NCL) has addressed the issue of labour market
flexibility for firms with respect down-sizing through lay-offs and retrenchments. The
Commission recommends that ‘prior permission (of state authorities) is not necessary
in respect of lay off and retrenchment in an establishment of any employment size’. It
is sufficient if workers are given two months notice. The commission recommends
that the rate of compensation should be higher in running and profitable organization
(with 300 or more workers) compared with those that are closing down or continually
incurring losses for at least three financial years. For instance, a loss-making firm
should pay thirty days of wages per completed year of employment if the firm is
being closed down and forty-five days of wages if the firm is shedding labour to
become financially viable and continue trading. It also recommends that a profit
making firm should pay retrenchment compensation at the rate of sixty days of wages
per completed year of service. Lower rates are recommended for firms employing less
than 100 workers (NCL 2002: 44). However, some analysts have argued that the NCL
is silent about retrenchment compensation rates workers employed in firms with 100-
300 workers and this potential legislative gap needs rethinking (Datt 2003: 128).
Unfortunately, the trade union of India suffers from a variety a problems such as
politicisation of the unions, multiplicity of unions, inter-union rivalry, uneconomic
size, financial inability and dependence on outside leadership.
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United Trade Union Congress – Lenin Sarani (UTUC-LS)
1.7.i. The Trade Union Act (1926): The Trade Union Act (1926) provides for
registration of unions but does not entitle the union to recognition by the employer for
the purpose of collective bargaining. ‘Labour’ is on the concurrent list of the Indian
Constitution which means both the State and Central Governments can legislate on
this matter. Some state government have passed laws that enable trade unions to gain
recognition through secret ballot or majority membership verification by the local
authority, which in most cases is the labour Commission of the State Government
(Kuruvilla and Hiers 2000; Venkat Ratnam 2000). Registration of unions is fairly
straight forward under the Trade Union Act (1926). It is argued that labour law
reforms should stipulate a minimum membership of say 10 per cent of the bargaining
unit for a union to be eligible to register.
02. Pakistan
2.1 Evolution of the Industrial Relations System in Pakistan (RFP, IRJ, 2000)
In 1875, the history of Labour Legislation in the Indian sub-continent, when the
Government of Bombay appointed a Factory Commission. Based on its
recommendations, the first ever Factories Act in the year 1881 was further amended
in 1892 which among other things defined the factory, its registration, prohibited
employment of children below 9 years of age and limited the working hours for
children and women etc. As a result of the recommendations of this Commission,
Indian Factories Act of 1922 was enforced which was further amended in 1923, 1926
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and 1931. The Trade Union Act 1926 and Trade Dispute Act 1929 were promulgated
subsequently.
In may be recalled that after the First World War in 1918, labour became an
international concern which led to the foundation of International Labour
Organization in 1919. The Declaration of Philadelphia proclaimed ‘’ Poverty any
where is a danger to prosperity every where’’.
In the period after 1st World War, the labour felt the need to improve their wages and
working led to strikes. Particularly a Royal Commission on labour was established
under the chairmanship of Rt. Honourable J.II which was submitted in 1931and a
number of labour laws was amended.
In the context of employment relations, there are three broad areas of intervention by
the government to ensure a peaceful workplace:
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Participating in the tripartite
There is some important legislation that has played a crucial role in shaping the IR
system in Pakistan and these are as follows:
The Industrial Relations Ordinance, 1969 provides four tiers of workers participation
in the management to solve the problems in industrial relations within an industry
which are as follows:
03. Bangladesh
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The great achievement was came in 2001to 2006, with a huge consultation process on
labour law reform to enact an updated, consolidated and unified version of labour
laws. These was implemented in October 2006,. After proclamation of Emergency on
January 11, 2007, political and trade union was active and demonstration was banned
again. During the Emergency period (23 months), the trade union and collective
bargaining were banned again. Thus, frequent interference by government and
military regimes on different occasions has curtailed the development of a healthy and
congenial atmosphere of industrial relations system in Bangladesh.
Collective Bargaining has been very rarely resorted to in the last decade due to the
unwillingness of the employers and to some extent of the CBA leaders. The workers
represented by collective bargaining are usually employed by state-owned and large
private sector employers. The collective bargaining agreements cover resolving
disputes relating to wage, leave and other benefits of workers. Interviews with
stakeholders also reveal that collective bargaining agreements were fairly enforced.
The collective bargaining practice in Bangladesh is very week. There are many
reasons for week the bargaining position in Bangladesh. A weak industrial base and
the absence of real democratic practices in Bangladesh make room for easy
persecution of the workers and their leaders by the management.
Dr. M. A. Taher .. State and Industrial Relations-Bangladesh as a Case In the Post-Colonial Third World Context, Unpublished
Ph.D. Thesis, University of Chittagong, Bangladesh, pp 190-1994
and industrial laws in operations which established the framework for industrial
relations. Some of them are as follows:
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The Dock Workers’ Act, 1934
The Chittagong Hill-Tracts (Labour Laws) Regulations, 1954
The Trade Organizations Ordinance, 1961
The Bangladesh Industrial Development Corporation Order, 1972
The Foreign Private Investment (Promotion & Protection) Act, 1980
The Agriculture Labour (Minimum Wages) Ordinance, 1984
The Bangladesh Private Export Processing Zone Act, 1994The Bangladesh
Labour Act, 2006
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Conclusion
This report indicated that the present employment relations system in the Indian sub-
continent is not satisfactory but still they are improving. This report emphasised that
the role of collective bargaining, industrial relations system, labour and employment
legislations and structure of trade union which is most important of all Indian sub-
continent countries. Their trade union is always controlled by the central political
government which is individual company based but not industry based. The
promotion of independent trade unions and collective bargaining can contribute to
political and social stability. The trade unions have an important role to play in
settling disputes between workers and management over wages by way of collective
bargaining.
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References
Datta, R.C. (2001), "Economic Reforms, Redundancy and National Renewal Fund:
Human Face or Human Mask?", The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, 44(4):
675-690
Morley J. Michael et al. (2006), Global Industrial Relations, Abingdon & New
York, Routledge.
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