Page 140 - DMGT516_LABOUR_LEGISLATIONS

Unit 6: Trade Union Act

6.5.4 Measures to Minimize the evil Effects of Outside Leadership Notes

In view of the limitations of outside leadership, it is desirable to replace the outside leaders
progressively by the internal leaders. The National Commission on Labour, 1969, also stated that
outsiders in the Trade Unions should be made redundant by forces from within rather than by
legal means.
Both the management and trade unions should take steps in this direction. The steps may be:
1. Management should ensure that the victimisation will be at zero level, even if the trade
unions are led by insiders;
2. Extensive training facilities in the areas of leadership skills and management techniques
and programmes should be provided to the workers;
3. Special leave should be sanctioned to the offi ce-bearers.
Union rivalry has been the result of the following factors:
1. The desire of political parties to have their bases among the industrial workers;

2. Personal-cum-factional politics of the local union leaders;
3. Domination of unions by outside leaders;
4. Attitude and policies of the management, i.e., divide and rule policy; and
5. The weak legal framework of trade unions.

(a) Measures to minimise Union Rivalry: In view of the evil effects of inter-union rivalry
and the problem of formation of one union in one industry, it may be necessary to
consider the recommendations of the National Commission on Labour, 1969. The
recommendations of NCL to minimise union rivalry are:
(i) Elimination of party politics and outsiders through building up of internal
leaders
(ii) Promotion of collective bargaining through recognition of sole bargaining
agents
(iii) Improving the system of union recognition
(iv) Encouraging union security
(v) Empowering labour courts to settle inter-union disputes if they are not settled
within the organisation.
(b) Multiple unions: Multiple unionism, both at the plant and industry levels, poses a
serious threat to industrial peace and harmony in India. The situation of multiple
unions is said to prevail when two or more unions in the same plant or industry try
to assert rival claims over each other and function with overlapping jurisdiction.
The multiple unions exist due to the existence of crafts unions and formations of
two or more unions in the industry. Multiple unionism is not a phenomenon
unique to India. It exists even in advanced countries like UK and the USA. Multiple
unionism affects the industrial relations system both positively and negatively. It is,
sometimes, desirable for the democratic health of labour movement. It encourages
a healthy competition and acts as a check to the adoption of undemocratic practice,
authoritative structure and autocratic leadership. However, the negative impacts of
multiple unions dominate the positive impacts. The nature of competition tends to
convert itself into a sense of unfair competition resulting in inter-union rivalry. The

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