Page 225 - DMGT406_HUMAN_RESOURCE_MANAGEMENT

Human Resource Management

Notes certain demands. The Industrial Disputes Act 1947 has defined a strike as "an assertion of work
by a body of persons" employed in an industry acting in combination, or a concerted refusal or
a refusal under a common understanding of any number of persons who are or have been so
employed to continue to work or to accept employment. Strikes are of several types:
1. Sympathetic Strike: When a strike is undertaken to show sympathy with workers in other
industries, it is called a sympathetic strike.
2. General Strike: It is a strike by all or most of the unions in a industry or a region.
3. Unofficial Strike: It is a strike undertaken without the consent of the unions.
4. Sectional Strike: It is the refusal of a section of a given class of workers to perform their
normal duties.
5. Bumper Strike: It is a strike when the unions plan to paralyse the industry, firm by firm,
the order being chosen by the union. Such strikes are supported by the contributions of
those who are still at work.
6. Sit down Strike (also called stay-in, tool down, pen down strike): It is a strike in which
workers cease to perform their duties but do not leave the place of work.
7. Slowdown Strike: Known as a 'go-slow' tactic, the workers do not stop working but put
breaks to the normal way of doing things.
8. Lightning Strike: Out of provocation, workers may go on strike without notice or at very
short notice. There is an element of surprise in such wildcat strikes.

9. Hunger Strike: To gain sympathy from the public and get noticed by the employer, workers
may decide to forego food for a specified period. Small batches of workers may also go on
a relay hunger strike in a sequential order. Such non-violent protests generally bring
moral pressure on employers to iron out the differences with labour quickly.

Lock-outs

Lock-out is the counterpart of strike. It is the weapon available to the employer to close down
the factory till the workers agree to resume work on the conditions laid down by the employer.
The Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 defined it as "the closing of a place of an employment, or the
suspension of work or the refusal of an employer to continue to employ any number of persons
employed by him". If it is impossible to meet the demands of the workers, employers may
decide to go for lock-out. An employer may also pull down the shutters so as to bring
psychological pressure on the workers to agree to his conditions or face closure of the unit.

Gherao

Gherao means to surround. In this method, a group of workers initiate collective action aimed
at preventing members of the management from leaving the office. This can happen outside the
factory premises too. The persons who are 'gheraoes' are not allowed to move for a long time,
sometimes even without food or water. The National Commission on Labour, while refusing to
accept it as a form of industrial protest, opined that gheraos tend to inflict physical duress (as
against economic pressure) on the persons affected and endanger not only industrial harmony
but also create problems of law and order.

Picketing and Boycott

When picketing, workers often carry/display signs, banners and placards (in connection with the
dispute), prevent others from entering the place of work and persuade others to join the strike.

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