Bipartite and Tripartite
Bipartite
• Bipartism is a system of industrial relations where social
and labour issues are discussed between trade unions and
management, usually at the enterprise level.
• The bipartite consultative machinery comprises two
important constituents, viz., the works committees and
the joint management councils. These are purely
consultative and not negotiating bodies.
• This consultative joint machinery- with equal
representation of the employers and the workers has been
set up exclusively for dealing with disputes affecting the
plant or industry.
Evolution of Such Bodies
• The importance of bipartite consultative machinery was first
recognized as early as in 1920, when a few joint committees were
set up in the presses controlled by the Government of India. They
were also introduced in Tata Iron and Steel Company at Jamshedpur.
• The importance of bipartite consultation was further highlighted by
the First-Five-Year Plan which maintained: “There should be the
closest collaboration, through the consultative committee at all
levels, between employers and employees for the purpose of
increasing production, improving quality, reducing cost and
eliminating waste,” The second Plan also stressed the need for “joint
consultation and progressively associating the workers and
technicians, wherever possible, in management.
Tripartite
• The principals and policies of the tripartite body have been a
machinery of consultancy at the industrial and national levels.
The tripartite body was established to make peace and improve
relations between management and unions, and maintain
smooth functioning of union management relations.
• It began as a statutory organization by the recommendation of
the Whitey Commission to the ILO in 1931. The tripartite body
had to be sufficiently large to ensure sufficient representation of
the various interests involved; encourage representatives of
employers, labor and government to meet regularly; and
disallow individual members from making individual
contributions to meetings.
Purpose of Tripartite Body
• a. Bring the aggravated parties together for
mutual settlement of differences, and encourage
a spirit of cooperation and goodwill.
• b. Promote uniformity in labor laws and
legislation.
• c. Discuss all matters of All India importance as
between employers and employees.
• d. Determine a plan for settlement for all
disputes.
Fundamentals of Industrial Settlement:
• 1. Both parties have to realize that the country is breaking away from the past, and this is going to put
continuous pressure on the quality of man-power and demands from human resources.
• 2. Both parties have to realize that to run a successful and profitable business, team work is extremely
important. This gives rise to timely response and supply of goods to the society.
• 3.Both the parties accept the charters of "Human Resources Policy" summarized below:
• a. Individuals must make every effort to improve their job skills through training and participating in
developmental activities.
• b. Each employee must keep his/her job skills up-to-date with changing business practices and operations.
• c. Machineries should be used throughout the year with trained staff readily available to operate it.
• d. Indirect employees may be converted to direct employees for increasing business efficiency.
• e. Absenteeism and unnecessary delays must be reduced through planning.
• f. Short-term employment must be avoided. Long-term employment should be encouraged and highly trained
employees must be hired.
• g. The above steps must be utilized to increase company productivity; exploitation of employees must be
disallowed.
• h. High emphasis must be placed upon the quality of work. The Zero Defect policy must be always followed.
• i. Employees must make a stand to follow the "Human Resources Policy" individually or collectively.
• j. Both the parties should closely and routinely monitor change in productivity, and take necessary steps to
avoid undesirable consequences.
