Industrial Violence & Labour unrest is not a new phenomenon in India and is not confined only to a few areas in India. The surge in industrial violence in India can be attributed to many reasons, which include, demand for permanency, increase in wages, growing disparity in wages etc. However it is also observed that most of the times the Industrial Violence and/or the Labour unrest is due to the unhappiness among the Contract workers and growing disparity between the contract and permanent workers. It is often seen that Labour Unions & their leaders take undue advantage of the unhappiness among the workers and instigate a labour unrest that leads to far more damage than is required. It is often seen that the trade unions are backed by political outfits or by particular political leaders who, in order to score brownie points and their own political gain, instigate workers against the managements.
The current administration of the Government of India has stated that they wish to bring in a colossus of changes to the labour laws in India. The Govt of India is also proposing to disallow outsiders/Politicians to be trade union office bearers in organised-sector establishments and to disallow strikes without a proper advance notice of six months. This is indeed a positive step towards ensuring that strikes do not break out and political leader do not influence any of the strikes. The Government must also ensure that alongwith the changes made in the labour laws, education on prevention of industrial violence and handling the relationships with workers should be undertaken.
It is a vital role of the management of the company to ensure that they create guidelines for their HR/Plant managers which will lay down a code of conduct and ensure that the contract workers are dealt with in a fair and equal manner as that of permanent workers. Furthermore the Management and the Contractors must ensure constant discussions with the workers to understand their requirements and problems if any. Please also refer to the article on Strategies Under Labour Laws In India To Deal With Industrial Violence and also How To Manage Industrial Violence Effectively.
The measures proposed by the Government and the suggested measures do not guarantee complete end to the contract labour unrest but will help reduce the impact caused and level of violence that is being seen in the recent times.