Q1: What is a Grievance Procedure?

Steps involved in a Grievance

Procedure. Give a model redressal format for introduction in an
organization?

An organization is a joint place where various people of

different characteristics work under a common roof. As such,
existence of difference of opinion has become a common subject
nowadays with the employees getting dissatisfied with various
aspects of their work environment, such as the attitude of the
manager, policy of the company, working conditions, or behaviour
of colleagues. Employers & superiors mostly try to ignore or
suppress grievances for as long as possible. But they cannot be
suppressed for long as Grievance acts as rust which corrodes the
very fabric of organization. An aggrieved employee is a potent
source of indiscipline and bad working. Thus, grievance is one
emotion that plays a vital role in any organization.

A grievance can be defined as any sort of dissatisfaction,

which needs to be redressed in order to bring about the smooth
functioning of the individual in the organization. Real or
imaginary, legitimate or ridiculous, rated or unvoiced, written or
oral, it however finds expression in some form of the other.
– In employment law, a grievance is a formal, itemized complaint
to management that it has treated one or more employees
unfairly or has violated the contract or collective bargaining
agreement.

Forms of Grievances: A grievance can take the following forms,

viz;
1. Factual: When legitimate needs of employees remain
unfulfilled, e.g., wage hike has been agreed but not implemented
citing various reasons.
2. Imaginary: When an employee’s dissatisfaction because of a
wrong perception, wrong attitude or wrong information he has.
Though management is not at fault in such instances, still it has
to clear the fog’ immediately.
c) Disguised: Employee may have dissatisfaction for reasons
that are unknown to himself like pressure from family, friends,
relatives, neighbours,
Causes of Grievances: Grievances may occur for a number of
reasons:
a) Economic: Wage fixation, overtime, bonus, wage revision,
etc..
b) Work Environment: Poor physical conditions of workplace,
tight production norms, defective tools and equipment, poor
quality of materials, unfair rules, lack of recognition, etc.
c) Supervision: Attitudes of the supervisor towards the
employee
Such as bias, favouritism, nepotism, caste affiliations, regional
feelings,
d) Work group: feelings of neglect, victimization, object of
ridicule and
Humiliation, etc.
e) Miscellaneous: certain violations in respect of promotions,
safety methods, transfer, disciplinary rules, fines, granting leave,
medical facilities, etc.

Effects of Grievance: Grievances, if they are not identified and

redressed, may affect adversely the workers, managers and the
organization. Some of the effects are;

1. Increase in absenteeism, turnover, and commitment of

employees.
2. Reduces the level of sincerity, employee morale, dedication
to work & increases accidents in the workplace.
3. Strains relationships between the managers & workers
increase in the level of control & supervision & disciplinary
actions leading to more industrial disputes.
4. Low quality of production, increase in the wastage of
materials, leakages…
5. Increases the cost of production.

Grievance Redressal : there are 2 types of Grievance Redressal,

viz;

1. Formal Grievance Redressal

 2. Informal Grievance Redressal.

Grievance Procedure / the Formal Grievance Redressal :

Step by step process an employee must follow to get his or
her complaint addressed satisfactorily. In this process,
the formal (written) complaint moves from one level of
authority (of the firm and the union) to the next higher level.
Grievance procedures are typically included in union (collective
bargaining) agreements. A systematic grievance procedure is
best means to highlight employee dissatisfaction at various
levels. Management, to this end, must encourage employees to
use it whenever they have anything to say.

Model Grievance Procedure & the Steps involved in a

Grievance Procedure: The grievance procedure mainly being a
voluntary measure, was adopted by the Indian Industries during
the 16th Indian Labour Conference in 1958. Despite differences
between organizations, the common four phase model is largely
applied by all industries. The four stages of the machinery are
briefly discussed here:
• An aggravated employee shall just present his grievance
verbally in person to the officer designated and the answer
should be given within 48hrs.
• If the worker is not satisfied with the answer, he along with
one department representative will present the grievance to
the departmental head. He will give his judgment in 3 days
or state the reason for delay.
• If he is not satisfied yet, then he may be requested to refer
the case to the grievance committee. The grievance
committee will make recommendation within seven days.
Management has to implement it,
• If even then he remains unsatisfied, he can report to the
higher tier of the management for revision.
• If the worker is still not satisfied with the decision then the
union may ask for voluntary arbitration and the decision of
which will be binding on both the parties.

Informal Grievance Redressal Method: the aggrieved

employee can directly approach his shift incharge or the section
head (in case of a major grievance) engage into a direct
consultation and have his grievance resolved amicably in stage I
itself. Therefore, he not only saves himself from a lot of time but
also mental tension and pressure, which many employees claim
to have acquired during the course of a formal grievance
redressal procedure.

Conclusion:

Therefore, if an organization has to move towards excellence,

maintenance of harmonious and cordial relationship is a vital
condition. Failure to meet with the workers or organization’s
expectation or the deviations from what has already been
accepted leads to indiscipline, grievance and stress and often
judicial- legal process may not be of much help in resolving
them. This has now been understood by many organizations, who
now adopt the Proactive method, where instead of the worker
undergoing a formal redressal process, the mgmt by itself enlists
the workers on the problems they face during production, which
reduces a large no of the disputes & problem apart from
increasing production & profits.

Model Grievance Redressal Proforma:

S.N NAME OF GRIEVANCE( T SUPERVI SOLUTI

O EMPLOYEES ITLE) SOR ON

Q2: ILO and the concept of decent work propagated & promoted
by the ILO.

ILO:

The International Labour Organization (ILO), founded in 1919 &

headquartered in Geneva, is a specialized agency of the United
Nations system which seeks the promotion of social justice and
internationally recognized human and labour rights.

The ILO formulates international labour standards which take the

form of Conventions and Recommendations. These set the
minimum standards in the field of fundamental labour rights:
freedom of association, the right to organize, the right to
collective bargaining, the abolition of forced labour, equality of
opportunity and treatment, as well as other standards addressing
conditions spanning across the entire spectrum of work-related
issues.

Founded primarily to stop the exploitation of workers all over the

world, the ILO today, employs a tripartite structure consisting of
the workers representatives having an equal voice as that of the
employers & the ILO in helping the governments formulate the
Labour Laws, when the ILC (International Labour Conference)
meets once every 2 yrs in Geneva funded by the 175 member
countries including India.

Concept of Decent Work propagated by the ILO:

The concept of Decent Work was first introduced by the ILO on

11 Dec 05 , in an unusual meeting , wherein Religious leaders of the
world were asked to debate on the concept of “Decent work
Agenda” propagated & promoted by the ILO worldwide.

The concept of Decent work encompasses four strategic

objectives –

I. Promotion of Rights at Work - It calls for renewed

attention to ILO’s standards, as well as a fresh look at
complimentary means and instruments for achieving this goal.

II. Employment - Creation of greater employment and

income opportunities for women and men as a means to reduce
poverty and inequality.

III. Social Protection – This section emphasises expansion

of social security schemes.
 IV. Social Dialogue – This emphasises examining ways of
strengthening the institutional capacity of ILO constituents as well
as their contribution to the process of dialogue.

The concept of Decent Work emphasises that the quantity of

employment should not be divorced from quality of work and
stresses that a social and economic system should be evolved to
ensure basic security and employment without compromising
workers’ rights and social standards in a highly competitive world.

India’s stand on the concept of Decent Work:

India, which has been a major member since the inception of

ILO, has an ILO area office in New Delhi since 1929. Mainly
maintaining links with the Government of India, it focuses on
collecting & disseminating info about employment generation,
employment in rural areas , select sectors & to convene tripartite
meetings between the Govt and the representatives to make any
amendments under the articles of Convention 182 ie , hazardous
labour practices...

While India has ratified 4 of the 8 core conventions of the ILO &
agrees that the four strategic objectives are necessary for decent
work, it however maintains a stand that the above holds no
meaning unless an opportunity to work is provided. Therefore,
employment generation should be the focus of the all ILO
programmes and activities. The basic requirement of Decent
Work should be to first ensure work to any potential worker and
then all other elements of the decent work concept will
automatically follow. This stand of India was appreciated by other
nations as well. India also made it clear in the meetings of the ILO
that the concept of decent work has to be fixed keeping in mind
the conditions of work in the social, economic and cultural context
of each country. It cannot be made applicable uniformly to every
country.

Conclusion: The NUPGE (National Union of the Public & General

Employees) reported that while concluding The ILO Director
General Juan Somavia, had said people throughout the world face
deficits, gaps and exclusions – unemployment and
underemployment, poor quality and unproductive jobs, unsafe
work and insecure income, denied rights, gender inequality,
migrant workers who are exploited, lack of representation and
voice, and inadequate protection and solidarity in the face of
disease, disability and old age, that the overriding goal of the ILO
is to promote "opportunities for women and men to obtain decent
and productive work, in conditions of freedom, equity, security
and human dignity,” which is the Concept of Decent Work , which
must be at the heart of all local, national ,economic & global
strategies for social & economic progress.

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