3. Joint Management Councils
• These consists of equal representatives of management and workers, not
exceeding twelve, at the plant level in selected industrial units, the units
should employ at least five hundred workers, should have a well established
and strong central organisation of employees unions and should have a
record of good industrial relations.
4. Objectives
• Promoting cordial relations between management and workers
• Developing understanding and trust between them
• Augmenting productivity substantially
• Securing better welfare and other facilities for workers, and
• Training them to understand and share the responsibility of management.
5. Functions
• The council is to be consulted by management before introducing changes
in the modes of production, production schedule, etc.
• The council is to receive information, discuss and give suggestions on general
economic situations, state of market, production and marketing
programmes etc.
• The council is to take up accident prevention, management of canteens,
water, meals, safety issue, avoidance of waste of time and materials,
absenteeism, indiscipline, training, etc.
• Wages, bonus, individual grievances, personal problems of workers are
outside the scope of joint management councils.
6. Causes of failure of joint management councils
• Trade unions fear these councils will weaken their strength as workers come
under the influence of these councils.
• Workers representatives feel dissatisfied as these councils are concerned
with welfare activities only.
• Managers feel that it is very difficult to convince uneducated and
inexperienced representatives of workers.
• Some managers feel afraid of furnishing adequate information to workers
representatives.
• There is no representative union to help councils to work smoothly.
• Some managers feel that with works committees and collective bargaining
there is no need for these councils.
7. Joint councils
• A joint council has to be formed at every division/regional zonal level or in a
particular branch of an organisation/service if considered necessary. In
every industrial establishment which employs five hundred or more workers
there should be a joint council for the whole establishment.
8. Features
• A joint council shall function for a period of two years.
• Only such members who are actually engaged in the unit shall be members
of the joint councils.
• The chief executive of the unit shall be the chairman of the joint council.
There shall be a vice-chairman who will be nominated by workers-members
of the council.
• The joint council shall appoint one of the members as its secretary. The joint
council shall meet at least once in a quarter.
9. Functions
• Settlement of matters which remained unresolved by the unit councils and
arranging joint meetings of two or more unit councils, for resolving inter-
council problems.
• Review of the working of the unit council for improvement in the customer
service and evolving methods for the best way of handling of goods, traffic,
accounts and so forth.
• Unit level matters which have a bearing on other branches or on the
enterprise as a whole.
• Development of skills of workmen and adequate facilities for training.
10. • Improvement in the general conditions of work.
• Preparation of schedule of working hours and holidays.
• Proper recognition and appreciation of useful suggestions received from the
workers through a system of rewards.
• Discussion of any matter having a bearing on the improvement of
performance of the organisation/ service for ensuring better customer
service.
11. Unit councils
• A unit council was to be set up in each unit of the organisation/service
employing 100 or more persons to discuss day-to-day problems and find
solutions wherever necessary.
12. Features
• All decisions of a unit council shall be on the basis of consensus and not by a
process of voting, provided that either party may refer the unsettled matters
to the joint councils for consideration.
• Every decision of a unit council shall be implemented by the parties
concerned within a month, unless otherwise stated in the decision itself.
• The management shall make suitable arrangement for the recording and
maintenance of minutes of the meetings and designate one of its
representatives as a secretary for this purpose who shall also report the
actions taken on the decision at subsequent meetings of the council.
13. • A unit council once formed shall function for a period of 2 years. Any
member nominated or elected to the council in the mid-term to fill a casual
vacancy shall continue to be a member of the council for the unexpired
portion of the term of the council.
• The council shall meet as frequently as is necessary but at least once in a
month.
• The chairman of the council shall be a nominee of the management. The
worker members of the council shall elect a vice-chairman from amongst
themselves.
14. Functions
• To create conditions for achieving optimum efficiency, better customer
services in areas where there is direct and immediate contact between the
workers at the operational level, and output including elimination of
wastage and idle time and optimum utilisation of manpower by joint
involvement in improving the work system.
• To identify areas of chronically bad, inadequate or improving service, and to
take necessary corrective steps to eliminate the contributing factors in order
to improve methods of operations.
• To study absenteeism and recommend steps to reduce it.
• To maintain discipline in the unit.
• To eliminate pilferage and all forms of corruption and to institute a system of
rewards for this purpose.
15. • To suggest improvement in physical conditions of working such as lighting,
ventilation, dust, noise, cleanliness, customer service points and so on.
• To ensure proper flow of adequate two-way communication between the
management and the workers.
• To recommend and improve safety, health and welfare measures for
efficient running of the unit.
• To discuss any other matters which might have a bearing on the
improvement of performance of the unit for ensuring better customer
service.
