Hi, I am working as an HR Executive in a business concern. Recently, we are facing drastic difficulties as our workers have gone on an illegal strike. As an HR professional, I want to know how to handle these challenges. Our workers are displaying harsh behavior. How can I prepare myself to handle such a crisis? I hope for your kind reply.
From Kazakhstan, Aktau
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1From Kazakhstan, Aktau
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An HR person especially one who is a fresher cannot deal with such situations alone. Unless he is given a clear mandate about how to settle it, even a senior person in the IR (Industrial Relations) Department may not succeed in settling the disputes. Before going forward, we should also know how did you declare it as an illegal strike? Didn’t they give notice of strike? Is it that the demand is not genuine/ unreasonable or abnormally high when compared to the industry standards or the profitability of the company? Being an HR person we should have a perception about the workers’ attitude. They are not educated like we people nor they do not care for the consequences and therefore, very often they will react very harshly. It may not be due to their fault, may be due to our lack of communication or sometimes due to ill treatment or the general attitude of persons sitting in the Admin/ HR office.
I would say that even an HR head may not be a decision maker in many organisation. There may be exceptions in big Corporates but still he will have to satisfy his boss or the Board of Directors and in order to safeguard everyone’s interest he will wait for the approval from his Boss or the BOD to come. It is also true that if a strike/ dispute is not settled in time, the performance indicator of HR (IR person, especially) will come down drastically and sometimes he will be out of the company forever and at the same time, if he does it in time and builds up a cordial industrial relations within the organisation he may not get much recognition because at that point of time the actual owners will say that he did his duty for which he is paid and nothing special in it to honour him or will present the increase in the cost to company which has been incurred additionally in order to settle the dispute. In all these cases the HR is only a facilitator and not a final decision maker.
Being an IR person you should first of all drop the feeling that you are responsible for all these problems in the organisation or you are the only one to settle it. You should also think whether the strike is genuine one or not and then take a positive call from both the side, ie from the workmen’s perception and from the employer’s perception. If you do this exercise you will find where you have to act and mediate. You can call the workers’ representatives and study what they really want. Then you can present it before the management. The management will never accept it but will give you at least a mandate as to how to take it forward. Now the table is set for discussion and in the initial two or three discussions you can directly discuss with them and then starting adding more persons like Directors. In the meanwhile you can declare that the strike should be called off immediately in order to go further with meetings. Each meeting should be promising, or should give the workers a feeling that their demands are being considered. This will mitigate the fire in them and when you present the Managing Director in to the meeting they will get relaxed and be ready for a compromise.
Another way of dealing with the situation is to write to Labour Officials to intervene and call for a conciliation. Though the Conciliation Officers do not have authority to instruct, that will be a good platform for discussion. There also, you can start discussion by yourself and then gradually call the decision making authorities.
Without the assistance of heads of other functions, HR cannot settle general dispute related to workers which are raised collectively through a trade union. If your organisation thinks that this is the KRA of HR person and he should do it by himself, it is wrong. Just like other departments need the help of HR for recruiting people, retaining people and dismissing people, the HR department would also need their help in such situations.
Madhu.T.K
From India, Kannur
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I would say that even an HR head may not be a decision maker in many organisation. There may be exceptions in big Corporates but still he will have to satisfy his boss or the Board of Directors and in order to safeguard everyone’s interest he will wait for the approval from his Boss or the BOD to come. It is also true that if a strike/ dispute is not settled in time, the performance indicator of HR (IR person, especially) will come down drastically and sometimes he will be out of the company forever and at the same time, if he does it in time and builds up a cordial industrial relations within the organisation he may not get much recognition because at that point of time the actual owners will say that he did his duty for which he is paid and nothing special in it to honour him or will present the increase in the cost to company which has been incurred additionally in order to settle the dispute. In all these cases the HR is only a facilitator and not a final decision maker.
Being an IR person you should first of all drop the feeling that you are responsible for all these problems in the organisation or you are the only one to settle it. You should also think whether the strike is genuine one or not and then take a positive call from both the side, ie from the workmen’s perception and from the employer’s perception. If you do this exercise you will find where you have to act and mediate. You can call the workers’ representatives and study what they really want. Then you can present it before the management. The management will never accept it but will give you at least a mandate as to how to take it forward. Now the table is set for discussion and in the initial two or three discussions you can directly discuss with them and then starting adding more persons like Directors. In the meanwhile you can declare that the strike should be called off immediately in order to go further with meetings. Each meeting should be promising, or should give the workers a feeling that their demands are being considered. This will mitigate the fire in them and when you present the Managing Director in to the meeting they will get relaxed and be ready for a compromise.
Another way of dealing with the situation is to write to Labour Officials to intervene and call for a conciliation. Though the Conciliation Officers do not have authority to instruct, that will be a good platform for discussion. There also, you can start discussion by yourself and then gradually call the decision making authorities.
Without the assistance of heads of other functions, HR cannot settle general dispute related to workers which are raised collectively through a trade union. If your organisation thinks that this is the KRA of HR person and he should do it by himself, it is wrong. Just like other departments need the help of HR for recruiting people, retaining people and dismissing people, the HR department would also need their help in such situations.
Madhu.T.K
From India, Kannur
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Dear friend,
Mr. Madhu has discussed in detail the difficulties always faced by any person, including HR, dealing with an IR situation culminating in an illegal strike, a wildcat strike, or even a legal strike by workmen. Industrial Relations is a complex subject, and its effective handling depends on the concerned manager's thorough understanding of Industrial Psychology, Labour Laws, Management's IR Policy, the Company's financial position, the genuineness of the demands raised, the factual circumstances leading to the strike, the timing of the strike, necessary negotiation techniques, etc. As aptly stated by Madhu, a sense of defeat is always imminent if you attach too much importance to your role-play. An effective IR Expert's role should be that of a buffer between the conflicting parties; otherwise, sooner or later, it will become a thankless job. Let me narrate an anecdote in this connection:
In the early 1950s, the General Manager of a large textile mill in the southern part of Tamil Nadu was given a free hand to deal with the issue of revising wages for the workers while protecting the company's financial commitments. He took a tough stance in negotiations, proposing a proportionate increase in workload without accepting the union's reasonable suggestion to upgrade the plant and machinery. This led to a prolonged strike and violence, resulting in the dismissal of around 30 workers who were union office-bearers. The situation deteriorated into a lockout due to the illegal strike. After several months, a settlement was reached regarding wage revision, and normalcy was restored with the intervention of the State Government. However, the GM influenced the Management to reject the truce of rehiring the dismissed workers, leading to an adjudication on the dismissal issue. It took nearly 10 years, and by the middle of 1961, an award was passed ordering the reinstatement of all 30 dismissed workers (some of whom had passed away in the meantime) with back wages, continuity of service, and all associated benefits. The next morning, as the GM's car arrived at the mill gate, a security guard handed over an envelope to the GM and another to the driver. The driver promptly asked the GM to alight, moved the car inside, and placed the GM's lunchbox by the roadside. Meanwhile, a procession of reinstated workers approached the gate.
Always strive to be sincere and tactful in highlighting the gravity of the situation to both management and the workers in conflict so that tensions subside, and good sense prevails for an amicable solution.
Best regards, [Your Name]
From India, Salem
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Mr. Madhu has discussed in detail the difficulties always faced by any person, including HR, dealing with an IR situation culminating in an illegal strike, a wildcat strike, or even a legal strike by workmen. Industrial Relations is a complex subject, and its effective handling depends on the concerned manager's thorough understanding of Industrial Psychology, Labour Laws, Management's IR Policy, the Company's financial position, the genuineness of the demands raised, the factual circumstances leading to the strike, the timing of the strike, necessary negotiation techniques, etc. As aptly stated by Madhu, a sense of defeat is always imminent if you attach too much importance to your role-play. An effective IR Expert's role should be that of a buffer between the conflicting parties; otherwise, sooner or later, it will become a thankless job. Let me narrate an anecdote in this connection:
In the early 1950s, the General Manager of a large textile mill in the southern part of Tamil Nadu was given a free hand to deal with the issue of revising wages for the workers while protecting the company's financial commitments. He took a tough stance in negotiations, proposing a proportionate increase in workload without accepting the union's reasonable suggestion to upgrade the plant and machinery. This led to a prolonged strike and violence, resulting in the dismissal of around 30 workers who were union office-bearers. The situation deteriorated into a lockout due to the illegal strike. After several months, a settlement was reached regarding wage revision, and normalcy was restored with the intervention of the State Government. However, the GM influenced the Management to reject the truce of rehiring the dismissed workers, leading to an adjudication on the dismissal issue. It took nearly 10 years, and by the middle of 1961, an award was passed ordering the reinstatement of all 30 dismissed workers (some of whom had passed away in the meantime) with back wages, continuity of service, and all associated benefits. The next morning, as the GM's car arrived at the mill gate, a security guard handed over an envelope to the GM and another to the driver. The driver promptly asked the GM to alight, moved the car inside, and placed the GM's lunchbox by the roadside. Meanwhile, a procession of reinstated workers approached the gate.
Always strive to be sincere and tactful in highlighting the gravity of the situation to both management and the workers in conflict so that tensions subside, and good sense prevails for an amicable solution.
Best regards, [Your Name]
From India, Salem
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Both Mr. Madhuji and Umakanthanji have very candidly expressed their views, which are very useful and guiding to all HR/IR people. There is hardly anything left to add in their posts.
But I just feel different about why the freshers overlook providing some vital information when they seek advice from the forum.
In this case, the original post contains many details, but it fails to inform us about the burning issue due to which workers called their strike. This vital information is completely missing. Additionally, he also failed to let us know what efforts management made to solve the issue and prevent the strike.
In my experience, many IR/HR people simply shrug their shoulders and tell me that a strike in a factory is not an IR/HR problem. They claim it is a problem for the Legal Section/Department, and therefore, their department has nothing to do with the strike. I think I have not come across a better joke than this.
From India, Kolhapur
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But I just feel different about why the freshers overlook providing some vital information when they seek advice from the forum.
In this case, the original post contains many details, but it fails to inform us about the burning issue due to which workers called their strike. This vital information is completely missing. Additionally, he also failed to let us know what efforts management made to solve the issue and prevent the strike.
In my experience, many IR/HR people simply shrug their shoulders and tell me that a strike in a factory is not an IR/HR problem. They claim it is a problem for the Legal Section/Department, and therefore, their department has nothing to do with the strike. I think I have not come across a better joke than this.
From India, Kolhapur
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