Strikes And Lockouts

Preventing illegal strikes and lockouts is a key concept both under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and in the Industrial Relations Code. Its significance can be understood by the fact that this statement finds its place in the very objectives of the Industrial Disputes Act, alongside maintaining harmony and good relations and well, solving industrial disputes. This article aims to look at the history and causes of strikes and lockouts, provisions on them in the old and new legislations and important landmark judgments that have helped us attain clarity over the years about these terms. Strikes History In March 1862, to demand an eight-hour workday, around 1200 workers of Howrah Railway station went on the first strike in the history of India. This strike emboldened the workers everywhere and thus, followed the 1877 strike of Nagpur Empress Mill workers demanding a wage hike. Then in 1881, the jute workers in Bengal went on a strike to protest wage reduction which was further followed by the Jute workers strike of 1885 and 1889 resulting in police firing on the strikers. Although the second half of the nineteenth century saw some instances of spontaneous resistance by industrial workers, the real working-class struggle and political awakening occurred in the 20th century where India witnessed the rise of organized trade union movement and assertion of their rights by the working class. This political awakening was evident in the several strikes that took place all over Mumbai when Bal Gangadhar Tilak was arrested on sedition charges in 1908. In the words of Lenin, "The infamous sentence pronounced by the British Jackals on the Indian democrat Tilak, evoked street demonstrations and strikes in Mumbai. In India too, the proletariat has already developed a conscious political mass struggle and thus the Russian style British regime in India is doomed." And well, most Indian national movements for freedom struggle that followed had one thing in common – workers going on a strike to dismantle the colonial structures and it can be stated that the Indian national struggle would have been incomplete without it. Causes In a study published in Economic and Political Weekly, the strikes in India had been analyzed closely to discover the rationale behind them and the conclusion is applicable even in 2022. Strikes always occur due to certain discontentment and frustrations and these could arise from various factors from inadequate wages, poor personnel policy and grievance system and disagreeable working conditions. The study came to a seemingly trite but significant conclusion that industrial peace in any country depends on the prevailing economic climate in that country, pointing to a direct correlation between industrial unrest and economic disparities. The formation of trade unions has entirely to do with the power to strike since the study concluded that, "Trade union membership gives workers a sense of cohesion and self-confidence and for this reason also, organized workers are readier to take strike action than unorganized." And thus, the study pointed out that since labour organization has increased, strikes have also seen a steep rise in occurrence. Unsatisfactory personnel management was also added to the list of strikes although the government has taken numerous steps regarding this which have been discussed in detail in this article. The Law First and foremost, it has to be stated that the right to strike is not a fundamental right under the Constitution of India, the right to form an association/union is. This statement has also been iterated in the Supreme Court judgment of All India Bank Employees Association v. National Industrial Tribunal. While the right to form association or unions is a fundamental right under Article 19(1), Supreme Court has expressly laid down in Kameshwar Prasad v. State of Bihar that the right to strike is not a fundamental right although, the right to strike has been recognized as a statutory right under Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. Even Article 43A of the Constitution under Directive Principles of State Policy mentions that the state shall take steps to secure the participation of workers in the management of undertakings, establishments or other organizations engaged in any industry. In B.R. Singh v. Union of India, Justice Ahmadi had recorded that, "Strike in a given situation is only a form of demonstration. There are different modes of demonstrations, e.g. go-slow, sit-in, work-to-rule, absenteeism, etc. and strike is one such mode of demonstration by workers for their rights. The right to demonstrate and therefore, the right to strike is an important weapon in the armoury of the workers. This right has been recognized by almost all democratic countries. Though not raised to the high pedestal of a fundamental right, it is recognized as a mode of redress for resolving the grievance of...

Strikes And Lockouts

Rashmi Bagri

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