Industrial relations encompass the relationships between employers, workers, and government, influenced significantly by factors such as labour laws, the socio-economic environment, and collective bargaining practices. It aims to foster harmonious relations, maintain industrial peace, and ensure that workers' rights are upheld, addressing contemporary issues like low wages, employment of women, and child labour. Measures to improve industrial relations include fostering mutual trust, effective communication, and progressive management practices.

2. Meaning
• Industrial Relationship :Industrial Relationship In
the words of Lester: "Industrial relations involve
attempts at arriving at solutions between the
conflicting objectives and values; between the
profit motive and social gain; between discipline
and freedom, between authority and industrial
democracy; between bargaining and co-
operation; and between conflicting interests of
the individual, the group and the community”

3. Main Parties in Industrial
Relations
• In simple words, industrial relations are the
outcome of the 'employment relationships' in
industry, i.e. between employers and labour.
The government of a nation or state
influences these relations to a great extent.
• Thus, there are three main parties in
industrial relations: Workers and their
Organisations i.e.
• Trade Union : The personal characteristics of
workers, their culture, educational
attainments, qualifications, skills, attitude
towards work, etc. play an important role in
industrial relations.

4. • Employers and their Organisation: The employers are a
very important variable in industrial relations. They
provide employment to workers and try to regulate their
behaviour for getting high productivity from them. In order
to increase their bargaining power, employers in several
industries have organised employers' associations.
• These associations put pressure on the trade unions and
the Government. Government: The Government or State
exerts an important influence on industrial relations
through such measures as providing 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 trade unions
and employers' organisations to regulate their behaviours
in the interest of the nation.

5. Industrial Relations
According to ILO, IR comprise relationships between
the State on the one hand and the employers’ and
organizations on the other and the occupational
organizations themselves.
• It means Collective relationship between
management, employees and government in any
industrial or non-industrial organization

6. Features of Industrial Relations :
•
Industrial relations are born out of employment relationship in
an industrial setting. Without the existence of two parties i.e.
labour and management, this relationship cannot exist. It is the
industry, which provides the environment for industrial
relations. Industrial relations are characterized by both conflict
and co-operation.
• So the focus of industrial relations is on the study of the
attitudes, relationships, practices and procedures developed by
the contending parties to resolve or at least minimize conflicts.
• As the labour and management do not operate in isolation but
are a part of the large system, so the study of industrial
relations also includes vital environmental issues like
technology of the workplace, country's socio-economic and
political environment, nation's labour policy, attitude of trade
unions, workers and employers.

7. • Industrial relations also involve the study of
conditions conducive to the labour,
management co-operation as well as the
practices and procedures required to elicit the
desired co-operation from both the parties.
Industrial relations also study the laws, rules,
regulations, agreements, awards of court,
customs and traditions, as well as policy
framework laid down by the government for
eliciting co-operation between labour and
management.
• Besides this, it makes an in-depth analysis of
the intervening patterns of the executive and
judiciary in the regulation of labour-
management relations.

8. Scope of Industrial
Relations
•
Scope of Industrial Relations 1) Development of Healthy
Labour-Management Relations: The promotion of healthy
labour management relations pre-supposes: The existence of
strong, well-organized, democratic and responsible trade
unions and associations of employers. This can lead to: Job
security of employees Increased workers' participation in
management Negotiations, consultations and discussions
Good labour-management relations.

9. • 2) Maintenance of Industrial Peace: Industrial peace
pre-supposes the absence of industrial strife.
Industrial peace is essential for increased productivity
and harmonious labour-management relations. The
industrial peace can be largely nurtured through the
following means: Machinery should be set up for the
prevention and settlement of industrial disputes
• The industrial peace can also be attained by the
creation and maintenance of implementation cells
and evaluation committees which have the power to
look into implementation of agreements, settlements
and awards and also violations of statutory provisions
laid down under various labour laws.

10. Scope of Industrial Relations :
Scope of Industrial Relations 3)
Development of Industrial Democracy:
The idea of industrial democracy states
that the labour should have the right to
be associated with the management of
an industry. To achieve this objective,
the following techniques are usually
employed: Establishment of the Shop
Councils and Joint Management
Councils at the floor and plant level.

11. • These councils aim at: Improving the
working and living conditions of
employee Improving productivity,
encourage suggestions from
employees Assisting the
administration of laws and
agreements Serve as a channel of
communication between the
management and employees
Creating among the employees a
sense of participation in the
decision-making process and Sense
of belonging to the industry.

12. Objectives and Importance of IR
• To Develop and maintain harmonious
relationship between management and labour
• To safeguard the interests of labour
• To establish and maintain industrial
Democracy
• To avoid all form of industrial conflict so as to
ensure industrial peace
• To raise productivity and reduce high labour
turnover
• To bring about Government control over such
industrial units
• To ensure a healthy and balanced social order
through recognition of human rights by way of
trade unionism

13. Causes and Effects of
poor Industrial Relations
• Economic Causes
• Organizational
Causes
• Psychological
Causes
• Social Causes
• Political Causes
• Multiplier
Effects
• Fall in normal
Tempo
• Resistance to
Change
• Frustration and
Social cost

14. Remedies to Improve Industrial
Relations
General Guidelines:
• 1. Sound personnel polices
• 2.Constructive Attitudes
• 3. Collective Bargaining
• 4. Participative Management
• 5. Responsible Unions
• 6. Employee Welfare
• 7. Effective Grievance Procedure

15. Remedies to Improve Industrial
Relations
Specific Guidelines:
• Both Management and Union should Develop trust
and positive attitude towards each other.
• All basic policies and procedures Relating to
Industrial Relations should be clear to every body in
the organization and the Union Leaders
• The personnel manager should remove any distrust
by convincing the union of the company’s integrity
and his own sincerity and Honesty.
• Management should encourage right kind of Union
Leadership
• After the settlement is reached should be properly
administered.

16. Contemporary issues in IR
•
Contemporary issues in IR Low Wages: Low wages have been a perennial problem
and have been a source of industrial dispute for years despite the existence of
Payment of Wages Act and the Minimum Wages Act. The acts do not seem to be
solving the problem due to their poor implementation.
• In many of the factories, workers are still given wages below subsistence level, which
leads to high degree of dissatisfaction and subsequent decrease in productivity. In
many industries, the minimum wages have not been revised at par to compensate for
it.
• Employment of Women: In the Indian cultural setup, the employment of women is a
major problem even though things have started changing in the recent times. There
are special provisions regarding the employment of women in the Factories Act,
which prohibit employment of women during the night shift and also on heavy
machinery.
• Under the Equal Remuneration Act, women are entitled to equality of wages at par
with the male workers. Some employers don't follow the above provisions in letter and
spirit and continue to exploit the women workers by virtue of their strong position and
because of mass illiteracy and superstition among the women workers.

17. • Ignorance and illiteracy: Various labour laws that
have beer made would be beneficial to the workers if
implemented properly. For this it is important that the
workers themselves understand the underlying
principles and provisions of the law and demand
whatever is due to them. With high rate of ignorance
and illiteracy prevailing among the workers, it car be
imagined how many of them know about the laws. It
is here that the exploitation of workers takes place
and legal provisions are ignored totally.

18. Contemporary issues in IR
Contemporary issues in IR Industrial Housing: Another burning
issue in the industrial relations field is that of accommodation to
the industrial employees. Here the problem is that the firms are
not able to provide accommodation to the employees and
further that the house rent allowance (HRA) that they provide is
not sufficient to keep pace with the ever -rising demands of the
landlords.
• Child Labour: The law requires that no child below the age of 14
is allowed to work in any factory and the adolescent is not
allowed to work in hazardous conditions. The Supreme Court
has passed a ruling strictly prohibiting the employment of
children in any kind of factory. But still one finds instances of
violation of law.

19. Measures to Improve IR
Measures to Improve IR :Measures to
Improve IR Progressive Management
out look Strong & Stable Unions
Mutual Trust. Mutual Accommodation
Sincere Implementation of
Agreements Workers participation in
Management Sound personnel
policies Government's Role.