The document discusses several topics related to industrial relations and labor practices: 1. It provides suggestions to improve industrial relations such as adopting industrial policies, having high opportunities in the environment, and ensuring economic and financial stability. 2. It defines unfair labor practices and grievances as complaints by employees against employers, such as disciplinary actions, promotions, and occupational issues. 3. It also discusses the importance of having grievance procedures to resolve disputes effectively and avoid costly legal claims, as well as maintaining good employee morale.

1. Suggestions to improve industrial relations:
-To adopt the industrial policies,
-Industrials opportunity must be high in frequency in the environment,
-To study the threats in the environment;
-Economic policy and Financial position of the industry must be well organized.
Unfair Labour Practice means any unfair act or omission that arises between an employer and an employee involving:
--The unfair suspension of an employee or any other unfair disciplinary procedure short of dismissal in respect of an employee;
-- Unfair conduct by the employer relating to the promotion, demotion, probation (excluding disputes about dismissals for a reason relating to probation)
or training of an employee or relating to the provision of benefits to an employee;
-- A failure or refusal by an employer to reinstate or re-employ a former employee in terms of any agreement; and
-- An occupational detriment, other than dismissal, in contravention of the Protected Disclosure Act, 2000 (Act No. 26 of 2000), on account of the
employee having made a protected disclosure defined in the Act.
lockout: A lockout is a temporary work stoppage or denial of employment during a labor dispute initiated by the management of a company. This is
different from a strike, in which employees refuse to work. It is usually implemented by simply refusing to admit employees onto company premises, and
may include actions such as changing locks and hiring security guards for the premises. Other implementations include a fine for showing up, or a simple
refusal of clocking-in on the time clock. It therefore referred as antithesis of strike.
What is a strike? A strike is a collective action by employees to stop or curtail work. Section 1 of the Labour Relations Act, 1995 defines a strike as a cessation of work, a
refusal to work or to continue to work by employees in combination or in concert or in accordance with a common understanding, or a slow-down or other concerted activity
on the part of employees designed to restrict or limit output.
Industrial relation is the study of employment and labor market. It assesses factors that shape employer, government and workers relationship in enterprises, industries and across
labor markets.
Objectives of discipline may be stated below:
(i) Getting general acceptance of rules, regulations, standards and procedures of the organization form the employees.
(ii) Developing of feeling of cooperation among the workers so as to get work done in odd circumstances also.
(iii) Directing and getting the work done in a more responsible manner.
(iv)Maintaining god industrial relations and providing favorable work-environment.
(v) Promoting industrial morale and efficiency among the workers to get the best results at minimum cost.
Misconduct is a legal term meaning a wrongful, improper, or unlawful conduct motivated by premeditated or intentional purpose or by obstinate indifference to the consequences of
one's acts. "Misconduct" is where something is seen as unacceptable but is not a criminal offense e.g. deceptive manipulation. Misconduct refers to an action, rather than neglecting
to take action, or inaction which could be referred to as poor performance.
Characteristics of Collective Bargaining
1. Equality in strength:
Across the table both parties bargain from a position of equal strength. In collective bargaining, the bargaining strength of both parties is equal. It is industrial
democracy at work.
2. Voluntary endeavor:
Both workers and management come to the negotiating table voluntarily order to heave meaningful dialogue on various troubling issues. They try to probe each
other's views thoroughly for arriving at an acceptable solution. The implementation of the agreement reached is also a voluntary process.
3. Flexibility: It is a group action where representatives of employers and workers expend energies in order to arrive at a consensus. It has sufficient
flexibility, since no party can afford to be inflexible and rigid in such situations. The unique feature of collective bargaining is that usually he
parties concerned start negotiations with entirely divergent views but finally reach a middle point acceptable to both. It is, therefore, not a one ay street but a give
and take process.
4. Joint and amicable settlement: It is collective in two ways. One is that all the workers collectively bargain for their common interests and benefits. The other
is that workers and management jointly arrive at an amicable solution through negotiations.

2. 5. Continuous affair
C o l l e c t i v e b a r g a i n i n g i s a c o n t i n u o u s a f f a i r . I t d o e s n o t c o m m e n c e s i m p l y w i t h negotiations and end an agreement the
agreement is only a beginning of collective bargaining. It is continuous and includes implementation of the agreement and also further negotiations.
6. Dynamic process:
Collective bargaining is a dynamic process because the way agreements are arrived at, the way they are implemented, be mental make-
up of parties involved, keep changing. So, the effort itself changes, grows and expands over time.
7. Power relationship:
Workers want to gain the maximum from management, and management wants to extract the maximum from workers by offering as little as
possible. For reaching a consensus, both have to retreat from such positions and accept less than what is asked for and give more than what is on offer. By doing
so unions attempt to strengthen their hold over workers without any serious dilution of their powers and management tries to retain its control on workplace
matters.
8. Bipartite process: The employers and the employees negotiate the issues directly face to face across the table. There is no third party intervention. Any
settlement of dispute in this method ensures harmonicons relations between the parties concerned.
What is a grievance?
A grievance in the traditional sense of the word is typically defined as a complaint against an employer by an employee for a contractual violation. Simply put,
this means that an employee has a problem with his/her employer and feels the problem is legitimate based on the contract he/she has with the
employer. However, not all grievances have to be contractual grievances. Typically, labor unions have a grievance procedure by which they follow and the
process of tracking that grievance can take many forms.
Handling Grievance & Discipline Procedures
Handling a grievance When dealing with a grievance:
 ensure you're familiar with the procedure and apply it correctly
 hold any grievance hearing in private without interruptions
 where a grievance relates to the person's line manager, ensure that the employee can raise the grievance with someone else
 listen carefully to the person's explanation of the problem and consider whether there is a deeper issue which might be the root cause of the grievance
 listen to any conflicting points of view
 weigh up all evidence to see whether there is an issue you need to address
 decide what action to take, trying to balance fairness to the person without compromising the business or other workers
 inform all concerned parties of your decision and the appeal process
 ensure you resolve any problems relating to policies, procedures or conduct where the grievance procedure highlights these
 keep the process as confidential as possible.
importance of grievance
 It is important to be able to deal with disputes effectively and this means having a forum allowing employees to communicate any grievances, issues
or complaints that may arise. This allows the organization to resolve the issue in a constructive and effective manner thereby reducing the risk of any
future issues including litigation. In order to do this you need to have a grievance procedure and this article will examine the importance of having
such a procedure and will give guidance on how to manage the grievance process effectively.
 Organizations which do not have an adequate grievance procedure are exposed on a number of fronts. The lack of procedures can lead to claims of
constructive dismissal when an employee claims that they had no option but to resign their employment as a result of the way they had been treated.
Tribunals will look at whether there was a grievance procedure in place and whether the employee used this procedure before resigning.
 If an employee feels unfairly treated this can result in a serious and potentially costly claim of discrimination. Again this can often be avoided by
having an internal disputes resolution procedure aka a grievance procedure.
 Organizations should have a separate Bullying and Harassment policy but the same principle applies to an employee who feels bullied and again
allows for any allegations to be investigated by management. Furthermore it is accepted that having no grievance procedure can lead to low morale
and a resistance to change amongst the workforce which can in turn result in poor performance and reduced efficiency.