M/s. Mass Exports is a leading apparel exporting firm in Chennai with 3 partners and 200 employees. 158 employees are members of the registered trade union, which requires 5 years of service for membership. The remaining 40 employees are not union members. The managing partner increased the salaries of 6 dedicated non-union employees by 30% but not the other 34, causing discontent. The non-union employees appealed to the union, which convinced management to make salaries uniform after 2 months. The union then pressured management to consult them on all major decisions, hindering the decision-making process.
M/s. Mass Exports is a leading apparel exporting firm in Chennai with 3 partners and 200 employees. 158 employees are members of the registered trade union, which requires 5 years of service for membership. The remaining 40 employees are not union members. The managing partner increased the salaries of 6 dedicated non-union employees by 30% but not the other 34, causing discontent. The non-union employees appealed to the union, which convinced management to make salaries uniform after 2 months. The union then pressured management to consult them on all major decisions, hindering the decision-making process.
M/s. Mass Exports is a leading apparel exporting firm in Chennai with 3 partners and 200 employees. 158 employees are members of the registered trade union, which requires 5 years of service for membership. The remaining 40 employees are not union members. The managing partner increased the salaries of 6 dedicated non-union employees by 30% but not the other 34, causing discontent. The non-union employees appealed to the union, which convinced management to make salaries uniform after 2 months. The union then pressured management to consult them on all major decisions, hindering the decision-making process.
M/s. Mass Exports is a leading apparel exporting firm in Chennai with 3 partners and 200 employees. 158 employees are members of the registered trade union, which requires 5 years of service for membership. The remaining 40 employees are not union members. The managing partner increased the salaries of 6 dedicated non-union employees by 30% but not the other 34, causing discontent. The non-union employees appealed to the union, which convinced management to make salaries uniform after 2 months. The union then pressured management to consult them on all major decisions, hindering the decision-making process.
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Case Study on M/s.
Mass Exports, Chennai
M/s. Mass Exports is one of the leading firms in Chennai. It had 3 partners namely, A, B & C.
Mr. A is the Managing Partner and took active part in the day to day affairs of the business. The
firm exports apparels to countries, like, Italy, France, U.K., Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore.
It had around 200 employees on its pay-roll. 158 employees are members of registered trade
union of the organization. One of the conditions laid down in the bye-laws of the trade union is
that to become a member of the union, an employee must have put in at least 5 years of
completed service in the organization. 40 employees had less than five years of experience, and
hence, are not part of the union. Normally, the salaries of employees, who are part of union is
much higher than the non-union employees by 30%.
The style of management was autocratic. Union was not consulted even in the matters affecting
employees’ welfare. The office-bearers of the union on their part remained passive in order to be
in the good books of the management and pledged their rights to the management.
Out of 40 non-union employees, 6 employees were highly skilled, sincere and dedicated to their
work and their work culture caught the attention of Mr.A, the Managing partner and decided to
reward those 6 workers as a sign of appreciation and by convincing other partners, increased
their salaries by 30% i.e., to make it on par with the union-employees . This act by the managing
partner was not liked by the other 34 non-union employees, as their salaries remained the same.
Few non-union employees met Mr.A and requested him to increase the salaries for all the 40
employees but their request was turned down. As a last resort, they represented the matter to the
union office-bearers in an informal way, as they are not members of the union. Their main contention was, “equal pay for equal work”. They further explained that they are frustrated
and it had created a permanent division among non-union employees.
The office –bearers of the union after contemplating for two months over the issue represented
the matter and asked the management to bring in parity in salaries among the same category of
workers. As Mr.B & Mr.C were personally unhappy regarding the increment given to the 6
employees, because it had resulted in more cash outflow. Therefore, as soon as the union
represented the matter, they convinced Mr.A about the consequences and reduced the wages of 6
employees by 30% after paying increased salaries for two months, in order to make it uniform
for all the 40 employees.
As far as the union is concerned, they were happy because, their request was honored by the
employers. Motivated by the success, the union pressurized the management to consult them in
all major policy decisions of the firm and as a consequence the union became more aggressive
and became a hindrance in the process of decision making at M/s. Mass exports.
Analyze the industrial relations climate, especially the role of trade union and record your
