Disagreement
between an employer and its employees, usually represented by a trade union,
over some aspect of the terms or conditions of employment. A dispute
is often followed by industrial action, in the form of a strike or a work to
rule.
A dispute
arising from the negotiation ct a new collective agreement or the revision of
on existing agreement on expiry.
An industrial
dispute must necessarily be a dispute in an industry. An industrial
dispute has three ingredients:
a)
There should be real and
substantial dispute or difference.
b)
The dispute or difference
must be between employers and or workmen.
c)
The dispute or difference
must be connected with employment and non-employment, or with the conditions of
labour of any person.
The
following dispute have been categorized as industrial dispute
d)
allegation of wrongful
termination of service
e)
Compulsory retirement
employee
f)
Claim for reinstatement of
dismissed workmen.
g)
Dispute connected with
minimum wages
h)
Dispute regarding payment
to be made under production bonus scheme
i)
Claim fro compensation for
wrongful dismissal.
j)
Dispute regarding
interpretation of standing orders
k)
Dispute relating to lock
out or bona fide and genuine closure of business.
l)
Non implementation of award
and claim for compensation payable by workmen to the employer for loss caused
by strike and
m) Demand of an employee relating to his confirmation on a post
holding in an acting capacity
Strike
and lockout are two coercive measures resorted to by the employees and the
employers respectively, for compelling the employers or employees to accept
their demands or conditions or services.
Strike
(industrial)
Stoppage
of work by employees, often as members of a trade union, to obtain or resist
change in wages, hours, or conditions.
Strikes
may be ‘official’ (union-authorized) or ‘wildcat’ (undertaken spontaneously),
and may be accompanied by a sit-in or work-in, the one being worker occupation
of a factory and the other continuation of work in a plant the employer wishes
to close. In a ‘sympathetic’ strike, action is in support of other workers on
strike elsewhere, possibly in a different industry. A general strike is action
by members of several key industries that aims to halt a country's economic
activity.
Illegal
strike
A strike
called in violation of the law. Strikes are generally illegal when they occur
as a result of a dispute over the interpretation of a collective agreement
currently in force, when they occur before conciliation procedures have been
complied with, or when certification proceedings are under way. If the strike
is illegal, workmen are not only liable to those wages but are also liable to
punishment by way of discharge or dismissal. Workers are however entitled to wages
for a period of lock out which is illegal and unjustified. A lockout is a
weapon of an employer to thwart or enforce such change by preventing employees
from working. Another measure is work to rule, when production is virtually
brought to a halt by the strict following of union rules.
ILLEGAL
STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS:-
1) A strike or a lock-out shall be illegal if –
i)
It is commenced or declared
in contravention of section 22 or section 23;
or
ii)
It is continued in
contravention of an order made under sub-section (3) of section 10 [ lda-136 or
sub-section (4A) of section 10A;
2) Where a strike or lock-out in pursuance of an industrial dispute
has already commenced and is in existence at the time of the reference of the
dispute to a Board, an arbitrator, a Labour Court, Tribunal or National
Tribunal, the continuance of such strike or lock-out shall not be deemed to be
illegal, provided that such strike or lock-out was not at its commencement in
contravention of the provisions of this Act or the continuance thereof was not
prohibited under sub-section (3) of section 10 or sub-section (4A) of section
10A.
3) A lock-out declared in consequence of an illegal strike or a
strike declared in consequence of an illegal lock-out shall not be deemed to be
illegal.
