CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

The field of industrial relations is quite complex.

The participants who constitute industrial relations are a)

the workers and their organisations b) the employers /

manageraent and their associations and c) the institutions of

the government. These three groups with their own sectional

interests, often come into conflict with each other. Such

conflict of interests leads to industrial conflicts and

hence loss of mandays of employment, and production.

Industrial conflicts in the broadest sense have always

existed - for example, the slave risings of antiquity - but

the circumstances in which they arose and were resolved had

nothing in common with those of modern disputes. One of the

roost significant things about the latter is that it is not

only the routine day-to-day relations between employers

and workers, that are regulated but also the exceptional

relations arising out of disagreement and tension or loss of

confidetnce between the parties that partake in industrial

disputes. This state of affairs makes the study of

industrial relations quite significant.

Genesis of the Problem :

Historically the problem of industrial relations is the

product of the factory system. The factory system

brought,in its wake, the establishment of a commercial

relationship between the employers and their employees; the

employers led by the profit motive in this new system, lost

sight of all other considerations and treated their

employees as a "commodity for price", subject to the laws of

supply and demand. The employers wished to buy labour cheap

and employees wished to sell their services dear. Thus

started the problem of industrial relations - a problem of

devising ways and means of reconciling the conflicting

interests. As Allen(1975) viewed, that the economic factors

make the employers and employee engage in a market

transaction and come together as buyers and sellers of

labour. The buyers own the means of production and need

labour power to combine with capital. The source of the.

labour price and profit being the same (revenue from

product.ion) , it carries in itself a seed of conflict, for

the conflict originates from the distribution of revenue

which generally is unequal at the very outset. The

employees therefore want to increase their selling price of

labour, whereas the employers want to keep their costs down.

In a conflicting unresolved situation, one of the parties

decides to withdraw from the transaction, which then

results into a strike or lockout. The strike and lockout

are thus inherent in this market transaction. All

e;mployees, irrespective of their occupation and status, may

therefore be considered as potential strikers.

• Importance of Industrial Relations :

The importance of establishing and maintaining

harmonious relationships can hardly be exaggerated. Mem

technical efficiency, updated machinery, good plant-layout

and dynamic organisation are not enough to make an industry

profitable. Good human relations in industry play almost a

decisive role in this respect. The fundamental purpose of

industrial relations is to increase industrial production by

securing harmonious relationship between labour and

roanageirent. Production could reach the optimum level if

there is perfect co-operation, understanding and mutual

faith between the employers and employees. On the other

hand, if there is mutual suspicion, strain and friction

between the two parties, efficiency and output naturally

suffer and hence all sections of the community will bo

affected.

The issue of industrial relations is not merely

bilateral, but it equally concerns the society at large.

In fact, the establishment and the maintenance of

satisfactory relations in industry is one of the main social

and political tasks in a modern society. The problem has

become more acute because frequent industrial conflicts

upset the even tenor of social life and widen the sphere of

disturbance. In other words, creation and maintenance of

good indutrial relations facilitates development of an

industrial democracy. It generates attitudes which

procreate progress and stability of other democratic

institutions. Thus the scope of industrial relations

extends beyond the frontiers of the factories and

encompasses far reaching consequences, touching upon the

entire socio-cultural and political milieu.

Objectives:

The study seeks to examine the determinants of

industrial relations in select two textile mills located at

Coimbatore city in Tamil Nadu and managed by National

Textile Corporation. It attempts to study the factors

influencing industrial relations pertaining to the socio­

economic profile of workers, the working conditions and the

level of job-satisfaction and aspects of trade union

participations which have a bearing on industrial relations.

The specific objectives of the study may be listed as

follows:

1. To examine the relationship of the variables coming

under a) personal factors b) job satisfaction and c) trade

union with militancy of workers (22 causal variables have

been chosen to explain militancy).

2. To study, m turn, the underlying determinants of

job-satisfaction including interest m ]ob ,satisfaction

from wage, working conditions, welfare facilities and

supervisory behaviour.

3. To analyse the structure, functioning and

performance of trade unions and more specificaly to bring

out the determinants of membership and participation of

workers in trade unions.

Hypotheses

(i) Workers' militancy is a function of personal

factors, factors of job satisfaction and of trade union.

(ii) Job satisfaction, m turn, depends upon job

interest, wages, working conditions, welfare facilities and

supervisory behaviour.

(ill) Membership m trade union is influenced by, among

others, motives to get higher wages, safeguard against

victimisation, solve individual grievances and acquire

better welfare facilities. Participation m union

activities by the members is again influenced by the

variables coming under personal factors, job factors and

union factors.

Concepts and Definitions:

Industrial Relation

In the present context, the expression "'Industrial

Relation" is used to express the nature of relationship

between the employer and the employee in an industrial

organization. Yoder(1969) defines the term as "the

designation of a whole field of relationship that exists

because of the necessary collaboration of men and women in

the employment process of industry.Prof Dunlop(1968) adds a

new dimension of inter-relations; industrial societies are

necessarily conditioned by industrial relations,which

include complex inter-relations among workers, managers and

government. The complexity and wider spectrum of industrial

relations are further spelt out by T.N.Kapoor(1964). The

term "industrial relations "should be understood in the

sense of labour-management relations as it percolates into a

wider set of relationship touching, extensively all aspects

of labour such as union policies, personnel policies and

practices including wages, welfare and social security,

service; conditions, supervision and communication,

collective bargaining attitudes of parties and governmental

interv€;ntions. The present study has sought to approach

industrial relations in the above multi-dimensional terms.

Strikes

Strikes are the most important indicies of industrial

unrest in modern industries. These are the economic

sanctions- which are usually resorted to as the last

measure when all possibilities of reaching a negotiated

settlement fail. The Industrial Disputes Act 1947, defines

a strike as " a cessation of work by a body of persons

employed in an industry acting in combination or a concerted

refusal under a common understanding of any number of

persons who are or have been so employed to continue to

work or accept employment" (Government of India 1947).

Gherao:

The Trade Union Act 1926 defines gherao as keeping

the managerial staff of industrial and other establishments

in wrongful confinement thus depriving them of their personal

and other liberties (Government of India 1926).

Militancy

According to Patterson (1943) "strikes constitute

militant and organised protest against existing industrial

conditions. They are symptoms of industrial unrest in the

same way that boils are symptoms of disordered system". In

the organisation and execution of strikes, the workers''

militancy is manifested. The term militancy clearly refers

" to methods and not aims". These methods cannot be defined

with precison because the implication of the term militancy

may daffer from one industry to another. While mere stoppage

of work in the essential services would deem to be a

militant action, it may not be necessarily so in the case of

industrial organisation. Militancy m industrial

organization may connote use of violent methods (Allen.

1975). According to Charles R. Swanson(1981) militancy

means "an attitudmal activism". B.D. Pathak (1968)

describes the term militancy meaning "engaging in warfare"

as of ^fighting nature'. It is associated with strike,

bandhs, gheraos and such other forms of protest action.

From the point of view of employers it is invariably

connected with trade unions' aggressiveness,

irresponsibility, harassment, coercion, goondaism etc.

Robert Dubin{1973) defines militancy on the part of workers

as aggressiveness with which they pursue their goals. In

other words it explains how far they use economic and

physical force to achieve their ends of collective

bargaining. Individuals differ in giving expression to

their frustration and m the intensity of their aggressive

behaviour. Certain individuals may react more sharply to

the non-fulfilment of their basic needs than others.

Similarly certain groups of workers are also more aggressive

in their attitude than others. Objections might he

raised against the use of terms such as "militancy",

"aggressiveness' etc., in as much as they frequently carry

value-loaded connotations. For many union members ,to be

regarded as a militant is a mark of honour. For the middle

class, the militant is an agitator, trouble-maker and

subversive. So the term militancy is an elusive concept

because it is used in warfare, or warring and combative

situations(P.P.Arya 1980).

According to R.K.Schutt(1982) "Militancy or aggressive,

organised conflict with management, can vary from nation­

wide strikes to local ones, slow or tools-down, picketing

and petitioning management, verbally in writing. The study

of Alutto and Belasco(1967) generally discusses militancy

but little attention has been paid to the possibility of

there being different meanings attached to these militant

actions. Marsh and Evans (1973) have defined militancy as

"combative or warlike attitudes by trade unions or their

members, taking the form of strikes, overtime bans, go-

slows, withdrawals of co-operations or demonstrations

inorder to bring pressure to bear on employers. Fox and

Wince (1976) have included in their list of militant actions

such items as attending public protests meetings and

organising and signing petitions as well as the more

traditional action such strikes and pickets. Militancy has

a strong emotive connotations in trade union movement.

Militancy obviously refers to strikes but it is also used

to describe other forms of action, depending upon the speed

and vigour with which they are undertaken.Sometimes, it

refers to the actions of those unions which traditionally

use the strike method. Such unions take the initiative of

exploiting fully whatever power or influence they possess.

In the present study this concept of militancy has been

taken to denote in a strike and gherao participation of

workers. The study has used Likert-type scaling technique in

order to indicate differernt levels of militancy . (The

ranking procedures are explained in the respective

chapters).

SAMPLE SELECTION

The secondary data relating to the 14 National Textile

Corporation (NTC) mills loacted in Tamil Nadu were scanned

to select two mills which fulfil the following conditions:

a) They should be large mills providing employment to more

than 1000 workers, for size is an important factor in both

the formal organisation and union activity, b) They should

have, as far as possible a diverse history of labour-

management relations that is one with relatively lower and

the other with higher incidence of industrial unrest during

the 10 year period under NTC (1977-1986), c) The mills

should, as far as possible, be similar in respects of such

as their product, organisation and conditions of work.

11

In accordance with the above criteria the

following two mills were chosen for analysis: Coimbatore

Spinning and Weaving Mill(Mill I) and Kaleswarar Mill (Mill

II). Among these in Mill I there has been the highest

incidence of mandays loss due to strikes and Mill II has tho

lowest incidence of industrial unrest among the NTC Mills

m Tamil Nadu.

A 10% sample of 155 workers from Mill I and 135 workers

from Mill II were drawn on a stratfied random basis. The

number of workers chosen from each job category was in

proportion to their numerical strength. All important trade

union leaders of the mill have been interviewed. This

included 35 trade union leaders each in Mill I and Mill II.

Further, 20 managerial personnel each m Mill I and Mill II

viere interviewed. The sample of the managerial personnel

included top, middle and lower levels.

Data Collection

First, preliminary details were obtained from the

personnel department and through informal interviews with

managerial personnel, trade union leaders and workers.

Then, on the basis of the information obtained, threo

separate structured interview schedules were constructed for

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workers, trade union leaders, and managerial personnel.

(The interview schedules are given in the Appendix).

The schedule for workers consists of five parts. The

first part deals with the household data. The second relates

to aspects like recruitment, promotion, training and welfare

facilities. The third part is about the relationship between

the workers and the trade unions. The fourth part concerns

the militancy of the workers and industrial disputes. The

fifth part elicits information on the other miscellaneous

aspects.

The schedules for management personnel and the trade

union leaders contain among other related aspects, questions

on trade unions, industrial disputes, settlement of

disputes, personnel policies, causes and effects of

militancy etc.

The above three structured interview schedules have

been prepared in such a way that Likert-type technique

could be used to prepare scales for select items to measure

the attitude of workers towards militancy, union

participation, job-interest, satisfaction towards wage,

supervisory behaviour, welfare facilities, working

conditions and the like. (The detailed ranking procedures

are explained in the respective chapters V,VI and VII).

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For the purpose of regression analysis the following

variables are rating as follows:

Age: below 40= 0

above 40= 1

Sex: Male = 1

Female = 0

Education: Primary = 0

School = 1

College = 2

Marital status: Unmarried = 0

Married = 1

Caste: Gounder = 0

Naidu = 1

Others = 2

Place of Residence: Semi-urban = 0

Urban = 1

Skill: Unskill = 0

Semiskill = 1

Skill = 2

Members of household: Upto 2 = 0

More than 2 = 1

Number of earning members: 1 member = 0

more than 1 = 1

14

Number of non-earning members: 1 member = 0

more than 1 = 1

Sectionwise labourers: Spinning preperatory = 0

Reeling = 1

Spinning = 2

Othrs = 3

Service status: Temporary = 0

Badali = 1

Permanent = 2

Length of service: Upto 10 years = 0

More than 10 years = 1

Present Wage: Less than Rs. 500 = 0

Rs. 500 below Rs. 1000 = 1

Above Rs. 1000 = 2

Bonus: Below Rs. 750 = 0

Above Rs. 750 = 1

Annual income: Upto Rs. 10000 = 0

More than 10000 = 1

Wage satisfaction: Low = 0

Moderate = 1

High = 2

Supervisory behaviour: Low = 0

Moderate = 1

High = 2

15

Union member: Non-member = 0

Member = 1

Union participation: Upto 5 meetings attended = 0

More than 5 meetings attended = 1

Job-interest: Low = 0

Moderate = 1

High = 2

Welfare facilities: Low = 0

Moderate = 1

High = 2

Working Conditions: Low = 0

Moderate = 1

High = 2

Militancy of workers: Low = 0

Moderate = 1

High = 2

The secondary data about the mills, such as

industrial disputes, number of mandays lost, number of

workers involved in strikes, wage loss, production loss

and individual grievances were obtained from records of the

mills. The data about trade unions such as members of

unions and their participation in strikes were obtained from

the union offices. No proper records are maintained in the

trade union offices.

ly

Reference:

In the present study, the secondary data relate to the

period of 10 years from 1977 to 1986 and they deal with the

trends in labour relations. The primary data cover a period

of one calendar year 1986.However the reponses with

reference to strike participation were covered for two

calendar years 1985 and 1986.

Techniques of Analysis:

For the purpose of analysis, the following statistical

tools are used. Both parametric and non-parametric tests

have been used. The chi-square test is applied to examine

the association between the variables.

The multiple regression analysis is used to know how

much of the total variation in the dependent variable as

explained by the independent variables acting together.

Intr£i class correlation co-efficients are calculated to know

the individual direct effect of each independent variable

over the dependent variable. Stepwise regression analysis

is also used to eliminate some of the superfluous variables

and also to avoid the problem of multi-collinearity. Thn

criterion for retention of a variable is, by and large, 5%

level of significance(In some cases 1% level of significanco

is also adopted).

The following form of multiple linear regression model

has been used in the study.

Yi = Po - PlXii + +322^22^

where Yj = Militancy

X^ = age, X2 = sex, X3 = marital status,

X4 = place of residence, X5 = caste,

Xg = education, X7 = skill, Xg = service status,

X9 = No. of family members, XJ^Q = No. of earning members,

^11 " '*-*' °^ "*-" earning members,

X-L2 " Sectionwise labourers,

^13 ~ length of service, X24 = present month wage,

X]j5 = annual income, Xj g = wage satisfaction,

Xij •-- working conditions, X-^Q = welfare facilities,

^19 " job-interest, X20 = supervisory behaviour,

X21 - union membership, X22 = union participation

In similar forms the linear regression models have

been formulated to explain job satisfaction and union

participation. The individual linear regression equations

on job satisfaction, job-interest, wage satisfaction,

supervisory behaviour and union participation have also

adopted the same form.

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Plan of the thesis:

The present study comprises of eight chapters. The

first introductory chapter deals with the scope and method

of study. The II chapter relates to the review of

literature on various aspect of industrial relations such as

industrial disputes, militancy, trade union and job-

satisfaction. The III chapter briefly surveys the

industrial relations in cotton textile industry in Tamil

Nadu, a back ground profile and establishment of National

Textile Corporation and history of the two sample mills. The

IV chapter gives an account of industrial disputes in the

sample mills, causes and settlement. This chapter analyses

the industrial disputes during the 10 year period (1977-

1986) and results and settlement of these strikes. The V

chapter deals with the labour militancy, indicators of

militancy, its relationships with personal factors, job

factors and union factors. The VI chapter analyses job-

satisfaction and its determinants such as wage, welfare

facilities, working conditions and satisfaction over

supervisory behaviour. The VII chapter deals with structure

of unions and their membership,political involvement and

workers* participation in union activities .~The last and

VIII chapter relates to the conclusions and implications of

the study.