Last October?s labour unrest at the Gurgaon-Manesar auto hub may be fresh in your memory, but the year as a whole would witness a dramatic decline in the incidence of industrial disputes and strikes, official data indicate. And what is more heartening is that the peace on the labour front is not merely on a drop in industrial activity in the early part of the year, but a cultural shift that is in evidence.
More surprising is that contrary to perception, the maximum incidents of disputes in 2009 have come from the seemingly industry-friendly states like Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh, while West Bengal, which has historically topped the charts for labour unrest, has reported just one dispute.
The total number of industrial disputes in India had gone up from 389 in 2007 to 431 in 2008, but the Labour Bureau?s latest data shows that only 71 disputes have been reported so far in 2009. Gujarat (with 13 disputes) and Andhra Pradesh (12) account for more than a third of the unrest. Haryana, which has seen strife in its auto industry hub, has reported six disputes.
?Any adverse impact of the global slowdown on India’s industrial relations climate is not discernible, as this data shows a decline in dispute cases,? labour and employment advisor Ashok Sahu told FE. He said state-wise variations could also be attributed to different reporting standards followed by state labour departments.
The numbers may be skewed because the Labour Bureau had not received data from Tamil Nadu, which has reported a high incidence of disputes in recent years. West Bengal?s industrial policies and failure to attract investment may have hogged headlines in recent times, but disputes within the state?s existing industries has dropped from an average of 164 in the last three years to just one. Kerala has also reported a sharp drop in disputes and strikes from 40 in 2008 to 11 in this calendar year.
In terms of production losses, Andhra Pradesh has been the worst hit by labour unrest, with losses of over Rs 106 crore. Rajasthan, with nine disputes and lockouts, reported losses of Rs 75.31 crore. Gujarat recorded losses of Rs 7.88 crore and Karnataka reported less than Rs 9.24 crore loss from just five industrial dispute cases.
The Labour Bureau data does not include all-India strikes into states? disputes data, but the production losses due to such strikes do accrue to the states? numbers.
