The establishment of pay boards has come to be widely accepted in India as a feasible pay finding mechanism. The boards have been successful in carry throughing their primary object of advancing industry-wise dialogues and active engagement by the parties in finding of rewards and other conditions of employment.
Meaning
Wage boards are set up by the Government, but in choice of members of rewards boards, the authorities can non name members randomly. Members to pay boards can be appointed merely with the consent of employers and employees. The representatives of employers on the pay boards are the campaigners of employers ‘ organisation and the workers ‘ representatives are the campaigners of the national centre of trade brotherhoods of the industry concerned.
The composing of pay boards is as a regulation tripartite, stand foring the involvements of labor, Management and Public. Labour and direction representatives are nominated in equal Numberss by the authorities, with audience and consent of major Central Organizations. These boards are chaired by authorities nominated members stand foring the populace. Wage board map industry-wise with wide footings of mention, which include urging the minimal pay derived function, cost of life, compensation, regional pay derived functions, tip, hours of work etc.
OBJECTIVES OF THE WAGE BOARDS:
( a ) To work out pay construction based on the rules of just rewards as formulated by the Committee on Fair Wages.
( B ) To work out a system of payment by consequences.
( degree Celsius ) To germinate a pay construction based on the demands of societal justness.
( vitamin D ) To germinate a pay construction based on the demand for seting pay derived functions in a mode to supply inducements to workers for progressing their accomplishment.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF WAGE BOARDS
The history of pay boards in India dates back to the 1930 ‘s. The Royal Commission on Labour recommended the puting up of three-party boards in Indian industries. It said:
We would name attending to certain central points in the scene of ( pay – repair ) machinery of this sort. The chief rule is the association of representatives of both employers and workers in the fundamental law of the machinery. Such representatives would be included in equal members, with an independent component, chosen every bit far as possible in understanding with or, after audience with, the representatives of both the parties.
Take determinations sing pay accommodations or on mention from parties or from the authorities.
No action was taken during that program period. However, the Second Plan emphasized the demand for finding rewards through industrial pay boards. It observed.
The bing machinery for the colony of pay differences has non given full satisfaction to the parties concerned. More acceptable machinery for settling pay differences will be the one which gives the parties themselves a more responsible function in making determinations. An authorization like a tripartite pay board, dwelling of an equal figure of representatives of employers and workers and an independent president, will likely guarantee more acceptable determinations. Such pay boards should be instituted for single industries in different countries. This recommendation was later reiterated by the fifteenth Indian Labour conference in 1957 and assorted industrial commissions. The authorities determination to setup the first pay board in cotton fabric and sugar industries in 1957 was besides influenced by the Report of the ILO.
The assignment of a pay board frequently consequences from the demands for labour brotherhoods. It has been reported: The formation of pay boards in all industries has been the consequence of demands and force per unit areas on the portion of trade brotherhoods. In their attempts to procure the assignment of pay boards, trade brotherhoods have to repressurise non merely the authorities but besides the employers whose formal or informal consent to their constitution must be obtained.
In India, the Bombay Industrial Relations ( Amendment ) Act of 1948 may be regarded as possibly the earliest statute law included a proviso for the constitution of pay boards in any industry covered by the act. Consequently, the first pay board was set up in Bombay for the cotton fabric industry. The chief intent of get downing pay boards was to alleviate the Industrial Courts and Labour Courts of a portion of their adjudication work. The amending act of 1953 has tried to avoid multiplicity of proceedings under the Act. It empowered Industrial Courts and Labour Courts pay boards to make up one’s mind all affairs connected with or originating out of any industrial affair or difference.
Industries Covered
The first non – statutory pay board was set up for the cotton fabric and sugar industries in 1957. Since so, 24 pay boards covering most of the major industries, have been setup by the Centre: cotton fabrics, sugar, cement, working journalists and non – working journalists ( twice each ) , jute, tea, java and rubber plantations, Fe ore, coal excavation, Fe and steel, technology, ports and docks, leather and leather goods, limestone and dolomite. On 17th July 1985, three pay boards were constituted, one each for working journalists, non – working journalists and the sugar industry. But no cardinal act contains any proviso for puting up pay boards. They are set up by a declaration of the authorities ; and they come to an terminal with the entry of their studies.
COMPOSITION AND FUNCTIONS OF WAGE BOARDS
The pay board is, as a regulation, tripartite organic structure stand foring the involvement of labor, direction and the populace. Labour and direction representatives are nominated in equal Numberss by the authorities, after audience with and with the consent of major cardinal organisations. By and large, the labor and direction representatives are selected from the peculiar industry which is investigated. These boards are chaired by authorities – nominative members stand foring the populace.
They function industry – wise with wide footings of mention, which include urging the lower limit pay, differential cost of populating compensation, regional pay derived functions, tip hours of work, etc.
Wage boards are required to:
a. Determine which classs of employees ( manual, clerical supervisory, etc. ) are to convey within the range of pay arrested development.
B. Work out a pay construction based on the rules of just rewards formulated by the commission on just rewards.
c. Suggest a system of payment by consequences.
d. Work out the rules that should regulate fillip to workers in industries.
In add-on to these common points, some pay boards may be asked to cover with the inquiry of Bonus ( like that of the pay boards for cement, sugar and jute industries ) ; tip ( like that of the pay boards for Fe ore excavation, limestone and dolomite excavation industries ) and the 2nd pay board on cotton fabric industry ; demands for payments other than rewards ( pay boards for jute and Fe and steel industry ) ; hours of work ( no-good plantation industry ) ; interim alleviation ( pay boards for jute industry and station and dock workers ) .
Some pay boards ( Wage boards for sugar, jute, Fe ore, gum elastic, tea and java plantations, limestone and dolomite excavation industries ) have been required to take into history the ‘special characteristics of the industry ‘ .
Therefore, pay boards have had to cover with a big figure of topics. Of these, the arrested development of pay – graduated tables on an industry – wise footing constitutes the biggest of all the issues before them.
In germinating a pay construction, the board takes into history:
( a ) the demands of the industry in a developing economic system including the demand for keeping and advancing exports:
( B ) the demands of societal justness, which ensures that the workingman who produces the goods has a just trade, is paid sufficiently good to be able at least to prolong himself and his household in a sensible grade of comfort, and that he is non exploited ;
( degree Celsius ) the demand for seting pay derived functions ( which is in relation to occupational derived functions ; inter-firm derived functions ; regional or inter-area derived functions ; inter-industry derived functions and derived functions based on sex ) in such a mode as to supply inducements to workers for bettering their accomplishments.
For the finding of just rewards, the board has to take into consideration such factors as the grade of accomplishment required for his work, the weariness involved, the preparation and experience of the worker, the duty under-taken, the mental and physical demands for work, the disagreeableness or otherwise of the work and the jeopardies involved in it. The board is required to do due allowances for a just return on capital, wage to direction and just allotment to reserve and depreciation.
Working OF THE WAGE BOARDS
Although pay boards are set up by the authorities, the basic ground for their constitution is the force per unit area brought to bear on the authorities, by the trade brotherhoods, industrial federations and national organisations on the one manus after the employers ‘ formal or informal consent on the other. Pressure has been used for the assignment of pay boards for the jute industry by the jute workers association and for the coal excavation industry by their trade brotherhood. The formation of pay boards in other industries has been the consequence of similar demands and force per unit areas on the portion of trade brotherhoods – such as plantations, Fe and steel, applied scientist, sugar electricity.
The authorities can non name members of the pay boards in an arbitrary manner. Independent members can be appointed merely with the consent of employers and employees. The representatives of employers on pay boards are the campaigners of the employer ‘s administration and the workers representatives are the campaigners of the national administration of trade brotherhoods of the industry concerned. However, before their existent assignment, a great trade of dialogues take topographic point non merely between the two chief reclaculatrant involvements but besides among different groups stand foring peculiar involvements.
Item to be included for the consideration of the pay boards are the result of the dialogues between the parties. The issues are nem con determined by trade brotherhoods and employers ; but these constantly relate to tip, fillip, hours of work and grant of interim alleviation. The quantum of interim alleviation is besides decided by negations and dickering which have sometimes resulted in impermanent dead ends.
The board maps in three stairss:
1. The first measure is to fix a comprehensive questionnaires designed to roll up information on the prevailing pay rates and accomplishment derived functions, agencies of measuring an industry ‘s paying capacity and work loads, chances for industry in the immediate hereafter, and regional fluctuations in the monetary values of widely consumed consumer goods. The questionnaire is sent out to labor brotherhoods, employers associations, interested persons, academic administrations and authorities bureaus.
2. The 2nd measure is to give a public hearing at which leaders of labour brotherhoods and employers associations, non represented on the board, every bit good as others interested in the industry in inquiry, are given a verbal or unwritten bearing on issues covering with rewards, working conditions and other points.
3. The 3rd measure is to convene secret Sessionss at which members of the board make proposals and counter – proposals sing the points covered under the footings of mention.
In the instance of failure to make a consentaneous determination on the issues, each party has the right to blackball the others determination.
The function of independent members on the board is limited to conciliation and mediation ; they try to forestall dead ends by advancing communicating between labor and direction representatives. They besides offer advice and suggestions to the parties, but the concluding determination must ensue from the parties give – and – take attitudes and via medias.
The determination – consentaneous recommendations – is written down in the signifier of a study and submitted to the authorities, which normally accepts consentaneous understandings, although it may modify any commissariats thereof. Then the study is to be compiled with by the parties. The authorities has no legal powers to implement the board ‘s recommendations. It tries to carry the parties to contract their differences and purpose to unanimity.
Wage boards like their ain clip in the entry of studies, e.g. , the 2nd pay board for cement and the first pay board for cotton fabrics and sugar took a small less than 3 old ages ; while the pay board for coal excavation, non journalists, jute, Fe and steel took a small over 3 old ages ; that for tea plantations took 5 ? old ages and for java plantation 4 old ages and Fe ore excavation 5 old ages. Some of the pay boards constituted in 1964 did non subject studies even by 1969, e.g. , heavy chemicals, fertilisers, technology industries and ports and docks. The mean clip taken by pay boards in the finalisation of their deliberations varies from 3 old ages to 5 ? old ages.
The chief grounds for the hold in the completion of pay boards work have been:
1. Everyday holds in the enlisting of staff ; readying and printing of questionnaires ;
2. Geting answers to questionnaires
3. Time involved in public hearings and
4. Lack of agreement among members in geting at a determination.
Evaluation OF THE WAGE BOARDS
The boards have been successful in carry throughing their primary object of advancing industry – wise dialogues and active engagement by the parties in the finding of rewards and other conditions of employment. The undermentioned citation point to the success of this establishment:
The board ‘s deliberations and awards have contributed significantly towards the development of a national and ‘development oriented ‘ mentality on inquiries refering to peculiar countries and sectors. They have given serious attending to the impact ( of pay addition ) on factors like monetary values, employment and the profitableness of the industry.
The commission apparatus by the National Commission on Labour identified three major jobs from which the pay boards suffer:
1. A bulk of the recommendations of the pay boards are non consentaneous.
2. The clip taken by the pay boards to finish their undertaking has been instead unduly long and
3. The execution of the recommendations of the pay boards has been hard.
But it concluded that the system of pay boards has, on the whole served a utile intent. As bipartite corporate bargaining on rewards and allied issues on an industry wise footing at the national degree has non been found operable at present for assorted grounds, this system has provided the machinery for the same. It is true that the system has non to the full met all the outlooks ; and, peculiarly in recent old ages, there has been an eroding of religion in this system on the portion of both employers and employees. The Committee is convinced that these defects are non such as can non be remedied.
Redresss
The commission made some of import recommendations. These have been given below:
1. the president of the pay should selected by common consent of the organisations of employers and employees in the industry concerned.
2. In future, the pay board should work basically as machinery for corporate bargaining and should endeavor for integrity.
3. Wage boards should be assisted by proficient assessors and experts.
4. The footings of mention of pay boards should be decided by the authorities in audience with the administrations of employers and the workers concerned.
5. A cardinal pay board should be set up in the Union Ministry of Labour on a lasting footing to function all pay boards through the supply of statistical and together stuff and loaning of the necessary staff.
6. Consentaneous recommendations of pay boards should be accepted and in instance of non – consentaneous recommendations, the authorities should keep audiences with the organisations of employers and employees before taking a concluding determination.
7. Wage boards should non be set up under any statues, but their recommendations, as eventually accepted by the authorities, should be made statutorily adhering on the parties.
8. For the industries covered by pay boards, a lasting machinery should be created for follow-up action.
9. Wage boards should finish their work in one old ages clip and the operation of its recommendation should be between two or three old ages, after which the demand for a subsequent pay boards should be considered on virtue.
If these recommendations are accepted, the working of pay boards may be made more affectional.
Question: –
Q1.What do you understand by pay board? Why there is demand of rewards board?
Q2.Enumerate the assorted industries list under the rewards board.
Q3.Explain the composing and maps of pay board?
Q4.How will you measure the effectivity of pay board?
Q5. Discuss the working of the pay board?
