Grievance: Trade Union and Workers

Grievance in Industry There are many factors in industry, which make a worker unhappy and dejected. May be his fellow workers are non-co-operative or his foreman’s sarcastic or harsh remarks on his own personal problems outside the factory or domestic matters. Poverty, undernourishment, debts, unemployed dependent, etc. may be working adversely in his mind. He look around and finds everybody being unkind to him. He is aggrieved and wants to ventilate his feelings and reactions. A well-defined grievance procedure is an important element of a sound industrial relations machinery.Prompt and effective disposal of workers grievance is the key to industrial peace. The grievance procedures set up by agreement with a union provides a medium for the workers to transmit his grievance to management in an orderly manner and get the answer in writing Meaning and Nature of Employee Grievance According to Michael J. Jucius, the term ‘grievance’ means â€Å" any discontent or di ssatisfaction, whether expressed or not and whether valid or not arising out of anything connected with the company that an employee thinks, believes or even feels, is unfair, unjust, or inequitable. The definition is very broad and covers all kinds of dissatisfaction, which an employee has while doing his job. A grievance means any discontentment or dissatisfaction arising out of anything related to the enterprise where he is working. It may not be expressed and even may not be valid. It arises when an employee feels that something has happened or is going to happen which is unfair, unjust or inequitable. Keith Davis has defined grievance as â€Å" any real or imagined feeling of personal injustice which an employee has concerning his employment relationship. A grievance represents a situation in which an employee feels that something unfavorable to him has happened or is going to happen. In an industrial enterprise, grievance may arise because of several factors such as: a. Viola tion of management’s responsibility such as poo working conditions, b. Violation of company’s rules and practices. c. Violation of collective bargaining agreement, d. Violation of labour laws, e. Violation of natural rules of justice such as unfair treatment in promotion. The essential of a grievance in an organization are as under: i.The discontentment arises out of something connected with the organization: The sources of grievance lie within the company such as unfair treatment by the supervisor, violation of company rules, etc. do not constitute a grievance. Such outside sources are beyond the control of the employer. ii. A grievance may be expressed or implied: It is comparatively easier to identify express grievances. They are manifested in several ways, e. g. ; gossiping, active criticism, argumentation, increased labour turnover, carelessness in the use of tools, materials and poor workmanship, etc.Grievance are also implied by indifference to work, day dreamin g, absenteeism, tardiness, etc. it is not wise to recognize only expressed grievances and overlook the unexpressed ones. In fact, unexpressed or implied grievances are more dangerous than the grievances which are started because it is not known when the implied grievance may explode. It requires a high order of skill for an executive to identify such grievances. iii. The discontent may be rational or irrational: rational grievance is a genuine one, which must be removed by the management.On the other hand, there are grievances which are emotional in nature and are based on sentiments, distorted perception, lack of proper thinking, etc. these are totally irrational or psychological. It is difficult to handle such grievances. Sources of Grievance The causes of grievances may be grouped under three heads, viz. , i. Grievances resulting from Management Policies a. Wage rates or scale of pay. b. Overtime c. Leave d. Transfer- improper matching of the worker with the job e. Seniority, pro motion, and discharges f. Lack of career planning and employee development plan g. Lack of role clarity. . Lack of regard for collective agreement. i. Hostility towards a labour union j. Autocratic leadership style of supervisors. ii. Grievances resulting from working conditions: a. Unrealistic b. Non-availability of proper tools, machines and equipment for doing he job. c. Tight production standards. d. Bad physical conditions of workplace. e. Poor relationship with the supervisor. f. Negative approach to discipline. iii. Grievances resulting from Personal Factors a. Narrow attitude b. Over- ambition c. Egoistic personality. Handling of Grievance Grievances are symptoms of conflicts in enterprise.So they should be handled very promptly and efficiently. Copying with grievances forms an important part of manager’s job. The manner in which he deals with grievances determines his efficiency in dealing with the subordinates. A manager is successful if he is able to build a team o f satisfied workers by removing their grievances. While dealing with grievances of subordinates, it is necessary to keep in mind the following points: i. A grievance may or may not e real. ii. Grievances may arise out of not one cause, but multifarious causes. iii. Every individual does not gives expression to his grievances.For the purpose of handling grievances efficiently, it is necessary to find and analyses the grievance of the subordinates. If a grievance is found to be genuine or real, the corrective action should be taken immediately. But if the grievance arises due to imagination or disturbed frame of mind of the worker, then it is necessary to explain and clear up the matter. Before dealing with the grievances, their causes must be diagnosed. But when the grievance are not expression by the subordinates, it is manager’s job to detect the possible grievances and their causes.He may realize the existence of grievances because of high labour turnover, high rates of abs enteeism and poor quality of work. These problems will go on multiplying if the causes of grievance are not cured. While dealing with grievances, a manager cannot depend upon any readymade solutions. Every case has to be dealt with on its merits. The following guidelines may be followed to deal effectively with the grievances: i. The complainant should be given a patient hearing. He should be allowed to express himself completely. ii. The management must show its anxiety to remove the grievances of the workers. iii.If the grievances are real and their causes are known, attempts should be made to remove the causes. iv. If the grievances are imaginary or unfounded, attempts should be made to counsel the workers. Grievance Procedure A grievance is the embryo of more serious trouble to come because accumulation of minor grievance may lead to major explosions. Therefore, prompt and effective handling of grievance is the key to industrial peace. This calls for systematic procedure of hand ling grievance for the just and speedy disposal of grievances. There are two types of grievance procedures for redressing the grievance of the employees.These includes i. Open Door Policy Under the procedure, the employees are free to meet the top executive of the organization and get their grievances redressed. Such a policy may work well in the small organizations, but in big organizations this may not be practicable because the top executive will be too busy in other matters. Another disadvantage of open-door policy is that lower level executives feel bypassed. This may complicate the human relations problems. Moreover, top management is not too familiar with the working conditions of the operative employees.It may be difficult for it to attend to employee grievances because of lack of sufficient information. Lastly, it is also said that the open door policy is suitable for executives to walk through and not the operative employees. The employees may even hesitate to go to top ex ecutives with their grievances. Because of these difficulties, stepladder procedure may be adopted ii. Step- ladder Procedure Under this procedure, the aggrieved employee has to proceed step b step in getting his grievance heard and redressed. Firstly, he has to present his grievance in writing to his supervisor or foreman.If he is not satisfied with his decision, he may go to the head of the department. There may by a joint grievance committee after the decision of the head of the department is not acceptable to the employee. If the committee also fails to redress his grievance, the matter may be referred to the chief executive. The grievance procedure will be said to be exhausted if the chief executive is also not able to redress the grievance. The workers should not take any action against the management until the whole grievance procedure has been exhausted. Filing of written Grievance Grievance Voluntary Arbitration Chief ExecutiveJoint Grievance Committee Head of department Su pervisor or Foreman S E T T L E M E N T The grievance assumes the form of a conflict after the workers is not satisfied with the decision of the chief executive. For maintaining industrial peace in the plant, it is advisable to refer such grievance to the voluntary arbitration. The award of the arbitration should be binding on both the parties. Grievance Procedure in Indian Industry In India, settlement of settlement of grievance did not receive adequate attention in the legislative framework till the enactment of Industrial Employment (standing orders) Act, 1946, and the Factories Act, 1948.The Industrial Employment Act provides that every establishment employing 100 or more workers should frame Standing orders which should contain, among other matters, provision for means of redressed for workmen against unfair treatment or wrongful actions by the employer or his agents or servants. Similarly, section 49 of the Factories Act provides for the appointment of Welfare Officers in ever y factory wherein 500 or more workers are ordinarily employed. These officers are generally entrusted with the task of dealing with complaints and grievances of the workers or employees.The 15th session of the Indian Labour Conference (July 1957) took up the matter of establishing a grievance procedure acceptable to both the management and workers union in an industrial unit and a sub-committee was formed for the purpose. The 16th session of the Indian Labour Conference (1958) approved the principles of industrial discipline evolved by the committee. A Model Grievance Procedures which is a part of code of discipline was drawn up. The model grievance procedure envisages the creation of a grievance machinery to administer the procedure.According to it workers representatives are to be elected for a department or their union is to nominate them. Otherwise workers representatives on the workers committee are to be taken as their representatives. The management has to specify the persons in each department who are to process the grievance at the second step. These representatives of workers and management are to constitute the joint, bipartite grievance committee. It should be noted that the whole procedure is time bound. Industrial RelationsTraditionally, the term ‘industrial relations’ is used to cover such aspects of industrial life as collective bargaining, workers’ participation in management, discipline and grievance handling, industrial disputes, and interpretation of rules, labour laws, etc. thus, industrial relations are often seen as constraints which limit the ability of the organization rather are often seen as constraints which limit the ability of the organization rather than an opportunity to develop collaborative problem solving relationship.The industrial relation (IR) function in majority of the organizations suffers from lack of planning, absence of human relations policies and predominance of short-term perspective in resolvi ng labour-management problems. The continuous neglect of industrial relations function has resulted in problems like poor work-culture, indiscipline, flouting of authority, coercion and blackmailing by unions, rise of restrictive practices, lack of mutual trust, frustration of workers, alienation of workers, etc. The concept of Industrial RelationsThe term ‘Industrial Relation’ refers to all types of relationships between all the parties concerned with industry. The parties related to industry are the workers and the management representing the owners. Thus, industrial relations connote a vast complex of relationships obtaining between management and employees, union and management, union and employees and between employees themselves. Both parties to industrial relation have a common interest in industry, but many a time, they are found to be pulling n difference directions which lead to industrial unrest. Therefore, it has become necessary to secure the cooperation of both workers and management to achieve good industrial relations. Besides management and workers, State is another party associated with industrial relations. The interference of government in industrial relations through legal and administrative measure is quite common. Thus, the area of industrial relations has been extended to relations among the state, employer and employees.According to Encyclopedia Britannica, â€Å"The subject of industrial relations includes individual relations and joint consultations between employers and workers at the place of work, collective relations between employers and their organizations and trade unions and part played by the state in regulating these relations. † According to Dale Yoder â€Å"The term ‘industrial relations’ refers to the relationship between management and employees or among employees and their organization that arise out of employment. In modern usage, the phrase ‘industrial relations’ include s the whole gamut of matters that arise due to the continuing relationship between the employers and the workers. Its scope includes three rarely distinct areas: 1. Relations between mangers and individual workers; 2. The collective relations between employers and labour (trade) union; and 3. The role of government in the regulation of these relationships. These three closely associated areas are often referred to respectively as personnel management, collective bargaining and labour legislation. Parties to Industrial RelationsSimply stated, industrial relations are the outcome of the employment relationships in industry. The government of a nation influences these relations to a great extent. Thus, there are three major variables in industrial relations: i. Workers and their Organizations: the personal characteristics of workers, their culture, educational attainments, qualifications, skills, attitude towards worker, etc. play an important role in industrial relations. Workers orga nizations, known as trade unions, are political institutions. Trade unions are formed for safeguarding the economic and social interests of the workers.They put pressure on the management for the achievement of these objectives. ii. Employers and their organizations: The employers are a very important variable in industrial relations. They provide employment to workers and try to regulate their behavior for getting high productivity from them. Industrial unrest generally arises when the employers demand from the workers is very high and they offer low economic and other benefits. In order to increase their bargaining power, employers in several industries have organized employers associations.These associations put pressure on the trade unions and the government. They also participated in tripartite bodies constituted by the government to regulate industrial relations. iii. Government : the government exerts an important influence on industrial relations through such measures as pro viding employment, intervening in working relationships and regulating wages, bonus and working conditions through various laws relating to labour. The government keeps an eye on both the trades unions and employers organizations to regulate their activities in the interest of the nation. Objectives of Industrial RelationsThe primary objective of industrial relation is to maintain good and healthy relations between the workers and the management in the enterprise. Al other objectives revolve around this primary objectives. Some of the important objectives are listed below: i. To promote healthy labour-management relations. ii. To promote the interests of employees as well as management by securing the highest level of mutual understanding and goodwill among them. iii. To raise productivity to a higher level which is the need of the day and to contributed to the economic development of the country. v. To check industrial conflicts and minimize the occurrence of strikers, lockouts and gheraos. v. To minimize labour turnover and absenteeism by providing job satisfaction to the workers. vi. To facilitate and develop industrial democracy based on workers partnership in management of industry. vii. To establish government control over industries to regulate production and industrial relations. Significance of Good Industrial Relations or Industrial Peace Good industrial relations refer to harmonious relations between the labour union and the management in an organization.In other words, in such a situation, there is absence of industrial disputes between the two parties and presence of understanding and cooperation between them. Thus, industrial relations in an organisation must be harmonious or cordial. Such relations can lead to the following benefits: 1. Industrial peace: Cordial industrial relations bring harmony and remove causes of disputes. This leads to industrial peace which is an ideal situation for an industrial unit to concentrate on productivity and gro wth. 2. Higher productivity: Due to cordial industrial relations, workers take interest in their jobs and work efficiently. his leads to higher productivity and production of the enterprise where they are working. Thus, they will contribute to the economic growth of the nation. 3. Industrial Democracy: Sound industrial relations are based on consultation between the workers and the management. This assists in the establishment of industrial democracy in the organization which motivates employees to contribute their best to the success of the organization. 4. Collective Bargaining: Good industrial relations are extremely helpful for entring into long-term agreements as regard various issues between labour and management.Effective collective bargaining and association of employees in decision- making process will bring about cooperation between labour and management. 5. Fair Benefits to workers: The workers should get sufficient economic and non- economic benefits to lead a happy life . It is possible when the relations between workers and management are cordial and the productivity is high. The employers can afford higher benefits to the workers. 6. High Morale: Good industrial relations imply the existence of an atmosphere of mutual cooperation, confidence, and respect within the enterprise.In such an atmosphere, there are common goals, which motivate all memebers of the organization to contribute their best. Consequently, there is higher productivity, higher income and increased, job satisfaction – all resulting in higher morale of the workforce. 7. Facilitation of change: Sound industrial relations, by creating a climate of co-operative and confidence make the process of change easy. Hence, full advantage of last inventions, innovations and other technological advancement can be obtained.The workforce easily adjusts itself to required changes for betterment. Industrial Unrest Industrial peace in a country is an important pre- condition for its industri al development. Industrial peace implies the existence of harmonious relationship between the management and the workers. When the relationship between the management and the workers is not cordial, industrial atmosphere is not peaceful. Such a situation is known as industrial unrest. In other words, industrial unrest refers to discontent and conflict between employers and employees.It takes the shape of strikes, lock-outs, demonstrations, etc. The relations between the employers and the employees are frequently clouded by a sense of exploitation, distrust and discontent. They give rise to industrial conflicts or disputes. Perhaps an industrial dispute is the most acute problem in industrial organization because it endangers peace in the industry. Some of the symptoms of industrial unrest are high labour turnover, disciplinary problems, absenteeism and tardiness, critical personal rating, low morale, restriction of output, etc. t is important to note that strikes and lock-outs have come to stay almost permanently in the industrial set-up of many countries. Maintenance of harmonious human relations in an organization depends upon the promotion and maintenance of discipline. No organization can proper without discipline. Discipline has been a matter of utmost concern for all organizations. There are some people who believe that maintenance of discipline is the concern of only higher echelons of an organization. But in actual practice, discipline is concerned with employees at all levels.Broadly speaking, discipline means orderly behavior of individuals towards the desired goals of the group. The word ‘discipline’ owes its origin to religion, but it was in the army that it helped achieve spectacular results. When big battles were won not by the numerically superior army, but by the one that had better disciplined soldiers who had a very high morale, a more intense motivation to win, and had the benefits of effective leadership, popular imagination ma rveled at such achievements. Discipline, thus, came to be equated with the army.But now it is widely used in schools, colleges, industries and other institutions. The concept of Industrial Discipline Discipline in industry may be described as willing cooperation and observation of the rules and regulations of the organization. It means securing consistent behaviour in accordance with the accepted norms of behaviour. Discipline is essential to a democratic way of life. Simply stated, discipline means orderliness. It implies the absence of chaos, irregularity and confusion in the behaviour of workers. In other words, disciplined workers cooperate andbehave in a normal and orderly way.Discipline may be defined as a force that prompts individuals or groups to observe the rules, regulation and procedures which are deemed to be necessary for the effective functioning of an organization. According to Ordway Tead, â€Å"Discipline is the orderly conduct of affairs by the members of an orga nization, who adhere harmoniously in forwarding towards the end which the group has in view, and willingly recognize that. † Discipline is said to be good when employees willingly follow company’s rules and it is said to be bad when employees follow rules unwillingly or actually disobey them.According to some people, discipline is a positive concept in as much as that the absence of indiscipline does not imply a state of discipline. Too often, discipline has been oriented towards punishment for the past misdeeds. Many managers and supervisors see discipline primarily as a mean to enforce external demands for responsible behaviour. Instead they expect orderly behaviour to depend primarily on fear of penalties. Thus, they exercise discipline as a punishment. But this is a negative approach which should be abandoned by the managers and supervisors in order to secure good human relation in industry.Manager should adopt a positive approach to deal with indiscipline in the or ganization. Attempts should be made to educate the workers the value of discipline. The workers should be taught self-discipline because it is the highest form of discipline in any group activity. Management should give more emphasis in educating the workers in order to change their attitude towards their work and work-place. Disciplinary action should be taken only in exceptional circumstances where no other alternative is left. It must be based on the consideration of just cause and due process of law.Aspects of Discipline There are two aspects of discipline, viz. , positive and negative aspects which are discussed below: 1. Positive Aspect: Employees believe in and support discipline and adhere to the rules, regulations and desired standards of behaviour. Discipline takes the form of positive support and reinforcement for approved actions and its aim is to help the individual in moulding his behaviour and developing him in a corrective and supportive manner. This type of approach is called positive approach or constructive discipline or self- discipline.Positive discipline take place whenever the organizational climates is marked by aspects such as payment of adequate remuneration and incentives, appropriates avenues for career advancement, appreciation of proper performance, reinforcement of approved personnel behaviour or actions, etc. , which all motivate employees to adhere to organization rules and regulations or exercise self- control. 2. Negative Aspect: Employees sometimes do not believe in discipline. As such, they do not adhere to rules, regulations and desired standards of behaviour.As such, disciplinary programmed forces and constraints the employees to obey orders and function in accordance with set rules and regulations through warnings, penalties and other forms of punishment. This approach to discipline is called negative approach or collective approach or punitive approach. This approach is autocratic in nature as the subordinates are given no role in formulating the rules and they are not told why they are punished. Negative or enforced discipline connotes that personnel are forced to observe rules and regulations on account of fear of reprimand, fine demotion, or transfer.But these are helpful in extracting Just minimum standard of performance from the employees since they work on account of the fear they have got. In fact, punishment, penalties, demotions and transfers provide or establish a climate which demotivates the employees. Hence, such climate is not helpful for the accomplishment of group goals and for enhancing the morale of employees. Importance of Discipline in Industry Discipline is the very essence of life. Absence of discipline means chaos and disorder. An industrial enterprise is an organic whole in which a variety of forces act in unison towards the attainment of its ultimate aims.Obviously, smooth and effective functioning demands a high degree of co-ordination among the various elements which for m integral parts of an organization. In an industry, big or small, manpower is the most important factor. Manpower can be used effectively only if there is discipline in the industry. Discipline should not be brought about by fear or punitive actions, it should be brought voluntarity. A man may work in the required manner under compulsion, but he may constantly be in conflict with his natural impulse and thus be under a continues strain which he can’t be considered conductive to good social relations in the work-group.What is really required is to take steps to promotion mutual confidence between the employees and the employers and highlight the identity of their interest, which are so essential to bring about the necessary discipline. Maintenance of discipline is a prerequisite for the attainment of maximum productivity, not only of the workers but also of the entire nation. It is only because of this that the underlying philosophy of discipline is conceived as inherent in t he whole field of industrial relations.Viewed against this background, self-discipline is the highest form of discipline and management efforts should be directed to encourage this. True discipline is education because it changes the very attitude of the workers towards their work and work-place. It must, therefore, be realized that discipline is to developed from within. It has to be reformative and not punitive. Preventive and Settlement Machinery of Industrial Disputes Lasting industrial peace requires that the causes of industrial disputes should be eliminated. In other words, preventive steps should be taken so that industrial disputes do not occur.But if preventive machinery fails, then the industrial disputes settlement machinery should be activated by the Government because non- settlement of disputes will prove to be very costly to the workers, management and the society as a whole. MACHINERY FOR HANDLING INDUSTRIAL DISPUTES Labour Court Industrial Tribunals National Tribun als Conciliation Board Conciliation Officers Voluntary Arbitration Conciliation Court of Enquiray Adjudication Workers Participation in management Standing Orders Tripartite Bodies Collective Bargaining Code of disciplineGrievance Procedure Settlement Machinery Preventive Machinery Preventive Machinery The preventive machinery has been set up with a view to creating harmonious relations between labours and management so that disputes do not arise. It comprise of the following measures: 1. Worker’s participation in management It is a method whereby the workers are allowed to be consulted and to have a saying the management of the unit. The important schemes of workers participation are: works committees, joint management council (JMC), shop council and joint council.These have been discussed later in this book. 2. Collective Bargaining According to Dale Yoder, â€Å"Collective Bargaining is the term used to describe a situation in which essential conditions of employment dete rmined by bargaining process undertaken by representatives of a group of workers on the one hand and of one or more employers on the other. Collective bargaining not only includes negotiation, administration and enforcement of the written contracts between the employers and employees, but also includes the process of resolving labour- management conflicts.The role of collective bargaining fore solving the issues arising between the management and the workers at the plant or industry level has been widely recognized. Labour legislation and the machinery for its implementation prepare a framework according to which industrial establishment should operate. But whenever labours laws may lay down, it is the approach of employers and trade union leaders which matters. Unless both are enlightened, industrial harmony is not possible. Therefore, the solution to common problems can be found directly through negotiation between both parties and in this context, he scope of collective bargainin g is very wide. 3. Tripartite Bodies Industrial relation in India have been shaped largely by principles and policies evolved though tripartite consultative machinery at industry and national levels. The aim of the consultative machinery is to bring the parties together for mutual settlement of difference in a spirit of cooperation and goodwill. 4. Code of discipline Code of discipline is a set of self-imposed mutually agreed voluntary principles of discipline and good relation between the management and the workers in industry.In India, code of discipline was approved by the 16th Indian Labour Conference held in 1958. It contain three sets of codes which have already been discussed later in the book. 5. Standing Orders The terms and condition of employment have been a bone of contention between labour and management since the advent of factory system. To prevent the emergence of industrial strive over the condition of employment, one important measure is the standing orders act, 19 46, it was made obligatory that Standing Orders would govern the conditions of employment.The Standing Orders regulate the conditions of employment from the stage of entry in the organization to the stage of exit from the organization. Thus they constitute the regulatory pattern for industrial relations. Since the standing orders provide Do’s and Don’ts, they also act as a code of conduct for the employees during their working life within the organization. Industrial Disputes Settlement Machinery The machinery has been provided under the Industrial Disputes Act 1947. It, in fact, provides a legalistic way of setting the disputes.As said above, the goal of preventive machinery is to create an environment where the disputes do not arise at all. Even then if any differences arise, the judicial machinery has been provided to settle them lest they should result into work stoppages. In this sense, the nature of this machinery is curative for it aims at curing the ailments. T his machinery comprises following organs: 1. Conciliation: Conciliation is a method of resolving the industrial conflict with the help of the third party, who intervenes in the dispute situation upon a request by either or the both parties.It is a procedure in which the decision making functions remains the prerogatives of the parties to the disputes as in collective bargaining. The conciliators simply assists them in their negotiations and decision making, he resolves the impasse and remove the bottlenecks Conciliation Officers The law provides for the appointment of conciliation officer by the Government to conciliate between the parties to the industrial disputes. The conciliation Officer is given the power of a civil court, whereby he is authorized to call and witness the parties on oath.It should be remembered; however, whereas civil court cannot go beyond interpreting the laws, the conciliation offer can go behind the facts and make judgment which will be binding upon the part ies. Conciliation board In case conciliation Officer fails to resolve the differences between the parties, the government has the discretion to appoint a Board of Conciliation. The Board is tripartite and ad hoc body. It consists of a chairman and two or four other members. The chairman is to be an independent person and other members are nominated in equal numbers by the parties to the dispute.Conciliation proceedings before a Board are similar to those that take place before the conciliation Officer; the government has yet another option of referring the dispute to the court of Inquiry instead of the Board of conciliation. 2. Court of Enquiry In case of the failure of the conciliation proceedings to settle a dispute, the government can appoint a court of Inquiry to enquire into any matter connected with or relevant to industrial disputes. This court is expected to submit its report within six months from the commencement of enquiry. This report is subsequently published by the gov ernment within 30 days of its receipt.Unlike during the period of conciliation, workers right to strike, employers right to lockout, and employers right to strike, employers right to lockout, and employers right to dismiss workmen,etc remain unaffected during the proceedings in a court of enquiry. 3. Voluntary Arbitration On failure of conciliation proceedings, the conciliation officer may proceedings; the conciliation officer may persuade the parties to refer the dispute to a voluntary arbitrator. Voluntary arbitration refers to getting the disputes settled though an independent person chosen by the parties involved mutually and voluntarily.In other words, arbitrator jointly appointed by the parties which is usually wasted in case of adjudication. 4. Adjudication The ultimate remedy for the settlement of an industrial dispute is its reference to adjudication by labour court or tribunals when conciliation machinery fails to bring about a settlement. Adjudication consists of settling disputes through intervention by the third party appointed by the government. The law provides the adjudication to be conducted by the labour court, Industrial Tribunal and National Tribunal.