<b>Eco Survey</b>: Strikes decline sharply

With the number of strikes and lockouts declining, Economic Survey 2007-08 indicated that industrial relations in the country improved year-on-year with an all-time low disputes of 285 recorded in 2007. Strikes have come down from 243 in 2006 to 143 in 2007, and number of lockouts declined from 187 in 2006 to 142 in 2007.

The survey also says that mandays lost due to disturbances in industries came down from 20.32 million mandays in 2006 to as low as 5.64 million mandays in 2007. (All figures for 2007 are only from January to November)

The mandays lost were increasing from 2001 onwards in contrast to dimininshing disputes. While the country lost 23.77 million mandays in 2001 due to 674 strikes and lockouts for various reasons, it went as high as 30.26 million in 2003 due to 552 disputes and 29.66 million in 2005 with as few as 456 disputes.

The survey highlighted that West Bengal experienced the maximum instances of strikes and lockouts till November 2007. Like last year, Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, with a concentration of industrial establishments, trailed West Bengal.

The survey also observed that disturbances were concentrated mainly in the textiles, financial intermediaries (excluding insurance and pension fund), engineering and chemical industries sectors.

Industrial bodies like FICCI attribute the positive trend to industrialisation and globalisation and industries moving to an era of good human resources management and a skill-oriented work culture.

Trade unions like CITU said that disputes, particularly strikes, were declining because of the absence of redressal/reconciliation mechanisms in companies, which has deepened the threat of job loss for workers.

Employers' organisations also explained that the decline in industrial disputes was because of the decline in labour-intensive sectors like manufacturing, and sectors like information technology and biotechnology taking up lead positions.