INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

AND LABOUR LAWS –

an Introduction
Lecture 1 – by Amit Varidhi Kilhor
 The UPSC EPFO consists of 2 stages - EPFO Recruitment Test (RT)
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and Interview carry weightage in the ratio of 75:25
Exam for the candidates shortlisted based on Recruitment Test (RT)
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75
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Interview 25
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Exam The Recruitment Test (RT) will be an Offline Exam

(Pen & Paper Based) consisting of
Objective Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs):

UPSC EPFO
2020-21 Marks Duration
Phase-1
Recruitment 100
2 Hours
Test (Offline) Marks
• a) The test will be of two hours
duration.
• b) All questions will carry equal
marks.
• c) The test will be objective type
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Syllabus
Sample questions
from last years
exam
Sample questions
 Social Security
Women
Workmen’s Compensation Act, 1923
Maternity benefits Act, 1961
Industrial Relations Employees State Insurance Act, 1948
Equal Renumeration Act, 1976
Trade Unions Act, 1926 Employees Provident Fund &
Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952
Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972
Salary
The Maternity Benefit Act, 1961
Payment of wages Act, 1936
Employees liability act 1938
Minimum Wages Act, 1948
Maternity Benefit(Amendment) Act,2017
Payment of bonus Act, 1965

Labour laws
Factories act, 1948
Plantation labour act, 1951
Mines Act, 1952
Merchant shipping act, 1958
The Dock Workers (Safety, Health & Welfare) Act, 1986
The Consolidation
• The three labour code bills –
1. the Occupational Safety, Health And Working Conditions
Code, 2020;
2. the Industrial Relations Code, 2020; and
3. the Code on Social Security, 2020 –
• merging 24 central labour laws in a major boost to labour
reforms.
• The government has now merged 29 central laws into four
codes.
• In 2019, Parliament had passed the first of the codes, the
Wage Code.
Syllabus – Industrial relations and Labour Laws
Class AGENDA
• An industry has two main components: management
(including the owner or the capitalist) and labour. The
concept of industrial relations may be said to have
come into being with the need to manage the
relations between labour and management in
industry. This need emerges because on one side
there is management (on behalf of the capitalist) that
invests money and procures various inputs with the
objective of reaping profits, while on other side, there
is labour that toils hard for the production of goods
and services and gets compensation in return. Their
objectives may sometimes clash with each other and
such a situation may prove to be detrimental to the
interests of not just the two parties involved but that
of the community as a whole.
• In India, industrial disputes on wages,
employment conditions, working
conditions, retrenchment, lay-off,
production, etc. may be resolved
through bipartite processes with
involvement of both workers and
management. But when it is not
possible to resolve disputes at this
level, the State intervenes, and then it
takes a tripartite form. The rationale for
State intervention is to achieve
cooperation and social justice (e.g.,
prevention of exploitation of sweated
and child labour). The State also acts as
a regulatory body for industrial
relations in India.
Industrial Realtions could be defined as complex of inter-relations
among workers, managers and government.
 IR approaches -
• IR is perceived differently by
a different group of behavioral
practitioners and theorists.
Some believed that IR is
related to the Class
Conflict while some perceived
it in terms of Mutual Co-
operation and still others
perceived it in terms
of Competing Interests of
various groups. On the basis of
these perceptions, there are
five popular approaches to
Industrial Relations. These are:
 • In unitarism, the organization is
perceived as an integrated and
harmonious system, viewed as one
UNITARY APPROACH happy family. A core assumption of
to industrial relations unitary approach is that
They seek direct negotiations management and staff, and all
with employees. Participation of
government, tribunals and members of the organization share
unions is not sought or is seen as the same objectives, interests and
being necessary for achieving purposes; thus working together,
harmonious employee relations.
The unitary approach is being
hand-in-hand, towards the shared
criticized as a tool for seducing mutual goals. Furthermore,
employees away from unionism unitarism has a paternalistic
and socialism. It is also criticized
as manipulative and exploitative. approach where it demands loyalty
of all employees. Trade unions are
deemed as unnecessary and
conflict is perceived as disruptive.
 • In pluralism the organization is perceived as
being made up of powerful and divergent
sub-groups - management and trade
unions. This approach sees conflicts of
Pluralistic-Perspective interest and disagreements between
managers and workers over the distribution
In contrast to the unitary
approach, the pluralistic of profits as normal and inescapable.
approach considers conflict Consequently, the role of management
between management and would lean less towards enforcing and
employees as rational and controlling and more toward persuasion and
inevitable. co-ordination. Trade unions are deemed as
According to pluralists, legitimate representatives of employees.
industrial conflict is inevitable Conflict is dealt by collective bargaining and
and it needs to be contained
within the social mechanism of is viewed not necessarily as a bad thing and
collective bargaining, if managed could in fact be channeled
conciliation, and arbitration. towards evolution and positive
change.Realistic managers should accept
conflict to occur. There is a greater
propensity for conflict rather than harmony.
 • Also known as the ‘Radical Perspective’ The
Marxist approach looks at industrial relations
from a societal perspective. It views industrial
Marxist Approach relations as a microcosm of the wider
pluralists believe that the conflict is
capitalist society. The basic assumption of this
inevitable in all organizations. Marxists see approach is that industrial relations under
it as a product of the capitalist society. capitalism are an everlasting and unavoidable
source of conflict According to this approach,
Besides, Marxists regard state intervention industrial conflicts are the central reality of
via legislation and the creation of industrial
tribunals as supporting management’s
industrial relations.
interest rather than ensuring a balance • The Marxist approach views industrial
between the competing groups. This view is disputes as a class struggle and industrial
in contrast to the belief of the pluralists who
argue that state intervention is necessary to relations as a politicized concept and an
protect the overall interest of society. element of the class struggle. As per the
Marxist approach, the understanding of
However, the weakness of this theory is that industrial relations requires an understanding
it is narrow in approach as it views industrial
relations as a product or outcome of the
of the capitalized society, the social relations
industrial conflict. of production and the mechanism of capital
accumulation.
 • Dunlop viewed industrial relations as a
system consisting of three actors:
Systems Approach management, workers and the government,
that functions in an environment made up
Dunlop viewed the above-mentioned of technology, labour, markets, and various
arrangement of industrial relations as a
system, wherein the components are
power equations in the society.
interacting and interdependent, while freely • The three unique factors in Dunlop’s model
giving and receiving information from the
external environment for dealing with certain
are: external environmental forces acting
issues and are together responsible for upon the labour-management relationship;
certain outputs. Thus industrial relations may specific characteristics in labour-
be viewed as a social sub-system operating management-government interactions;
within environmental constraints. rules arising out of and at the same time
governing existing employment
There are three sets of independent
relationships between the three actors; and
variables – the ‘actors’, the ‘contexts’ and a shared understanding of rules that gives
the ‘ideology’ of the system. stability to the entire system.
 • The concept of human relations
Human Relations approach underlines the need for
Approach making the individuals familiar with the
work situations of the organization and
uniting the efforts of the workers. The
purpose is to meet the social,
psychological and economic
objectives, by enhancing the overall
productivity.
• This theory focused on enhancing the
level of efficiency, worker’s morale
and job satisfaction by applying
specific techniques or tools and policies.
• The human relations approach
highlighted a technique for enforcing
proper control over the work
environment by forming small
workgroups
Radical perspective is
inspired by
the__________views
about capitalism.