Is There a Fix for Industrial Relations?

Abstract

The central argument of this chapter is that Indian trade unions cannot deliver on their promise because union bosses are not the power centres they once were. Younger workers who want skill and mobility and not just more money now hold the reins. The way forward lies not in outsourcing industrial relations to a distant leadership but in employee relations that breaks barriers and promotes team effort. This is fleshed out with two contemporary examples. In the first, management use employee relations strategies to turn around a sub-optimal plant with a troublesome union. In the second a participative structure delivers high levels of productivity and the best of relationships, but a union that no one wanted walks in when management cannot find a participative answer to the wage question.