Tripartite , Bipartite Bodies, and Industrial Settlement

Tripartite Bodies:

The principals and policies of the tripartite body have been a machinery of consultancy at the industrial and national levels. The tripartite body was established to make peace and improve relations between management and unions, and maintain smooth functioning of union management relations. It began as a statutory organization by the recommendation of the Whitey Commission to the ILO in 1931. The tripartite body had to be sufficiently large to ensure sufficient representation of the various interests involved; encourage representatives of employers, labor and government to meet regularly; and disallow individual members from making individual contributions to meetings.

Purpose of Tripartite Body:

a. Bring the aggravated parties together for mutual settlement of differences, and encourage a spirit of cooperation and goodwill.

b. Promote uniformity in labor laws and legislation.

c. Discuss all matters of All India importance as between employers and employees.

d. Determine a plan for settlement for all disputes.

Bipartite Bodies:

With the beginning of industrialization of India, labor relations in Indian industries have also been largely influenced by Indian democracy. Groups like Works Committee and Management Council were established to democratize Indian industrial relations. The bipartite consultation machinery was established around 1920, during the time when a few joint committees were setup by the Government of India. These joint committees were also introduced in TISCO in Jamshedpur.

Fundamentals of Industrial Settlement:

1. Both parties have to realize that the country is breaking away from the past, and this is going to put continuous pressure on the quality of man-power and demands from human resources.

2. Both parties have to realize that to run a successful and profitable business, team work is extremely important. This gives rise to timely response and supply of goods to the society.

3.Both the parties accept the charters of "Human Resources Policy" summarized below:

a. Individuals must make every effort to improve their job skills through training and participating in developmental activities.

b. Each employee must keep his/her job skills up-to-date with changing business practices and operations.

c. Machineries should be used throughout the year with trained staff readily available to operate it.

d. Indirect employees may be converted to direct employees for increasing business efficiency.

e. Absenteeism and unnecessary delays must be reduced through planning.

f. Short-term employment must be avoided. Long-term employment should be encouraged and highly trained employees must be hired.

g. The above steps must be utilized to increase company productivity; exploitation of employees must be disallowed.

h. High emphasis must be placed upon the quality of work. The Zero Defect policy must be always followed.

i. Employees must make a stand to follow the "Human Resources Policy" individually or collectively.

j. Both the parties should closely and routinely monitor change in productivity, and take necessary steps to avoid undesirable consequences.