NEGOTIATION - Industrial Relations Management

Negotiation in Industrial Relations

Negotiation, conciliation, mediation and arbitration are the four methods used for settlement of industrial disputes in India. While last three are based upon the participation by outsiders, negotiation presupposes the existence of two parties to a dispute eager to negotiate and settle mutually? Collective bargaining may be a treaty, a code, and, in some respects a contract. As a treaty, collective bargaining aims at reduction of disputes. It states conditions under which work is offered and accepted, and it is supported by detailed codes for performance of that task. However, when the negotiating machinery breaks down in practice and the issue continue to be unresolved, then will be the real problem .

Nature and Purposes

The agreement has more flexibility than lawyer-down contract. It does not impose obligations on employers to accept work. It might be applied to a fewer number of employees or even thousands of workers. Whatever is the form it takes, its agreement is to "to establish and maintain wages, hours, and working conditions for the work covered by this agreement; to prevent; to ensure the peaceful adjustment and settlement of any and all grievances, disputes or differences that may arise."

It lays down the grievance procedure and whether dispute arising out of it may be submitted to arbitration, it specifies its own duration and the ways and mean of renegotiation. Some agreements are standardized document prepared by the international union which establishes more or less uniform conditions throughout an industry.