Abhinandan Granth (English Article)

One way that has been tried in our country since the days of the second world war is the way of compulsory adjudication under which disputes are referred for adjudication to courts and tribu­nals and their awards are made binding upon both parties. Experience has proved that the method is not found satisfactory by workers as well as employers and is proving less and less effective. It leads to delays and protracted proceedings and involvement in legal technicalities. It is, moreover, unsuitable to a dynamic industrial set-up in which rapid and constant changes take place in the manner and methods of production. The worst defect of the system is, however, its tendency to discourage internal settlement, of disputes and the consequent weakening of the trade union movement. It has, therefore, become necessary to think in terms of some other way. The other way can be nothing better than the well-tried and well-known way of internal settlement of disputes through collective bargaining. Both employers and the Government express their preference for the method and pay lip homage to it from time to time. But nothing concrete is being done to develop it as the normal procedure for the settlement of disputes. It will be unrealistic, in the conditions obtaining in the coun­try, to expect workers to ensure the adoption of that procedure through their unaided efforts. The Government must render them some assistance. The best assistance the Government tan render will be to accept collective bargaining as a national policy —and to regard failure to enter into collective bar­gaining with employees as an unfair labour practice. Employers indulging in an unfair labour practice of the type should be denied all government assist­ance and patronage. Collective bargaining and internal settlement of disputes will then become the general practice. There would be provision in col­lective agreements for the reference of unresolved disputes to arbitration. It would effectively avoid strikes and ensure the smooth functioning of the industrial machine.

A mere avoidance of strikes need not be, however, accepted as the goal of national policy. The goal should be the creation of a positive atmosphere of mutual trust and co-operation. Rapid industrial development, which is the common desire of all in the country, will not take place without the creation of that atmosphere. In that atmosphere there will be few disputes and the few that arise will be settled expeditiously, through negotiations and arbitration. Workers must be made to feel that atmosphere not merely through words but through concrete action. They must be given in the first place an express assurance that there will be no deterioration in their existing standard of living and that they will pro­gressively receive an equitable share of the increase in national wealth. In the next place efforts must be immediately taken in hand to improve the wages and other conditions of work of those who are at present below the standard. If some serious action along these lines is taken, it will create confidence in the minds of workers and give them the hope that their conditions will improve as industries develop and the national wealth increases. They will then be prepared to work harder and to avoid all disputes which may affect production.