The trade union militancy should be handled very carefully. This type of illegal acts by members of the trade union is seen in companies where the leaders themselves are immature and are not in line with the objectives of the trade union. When the President/ Gen. Secretary of the Union is a member of Assembly or Parliament, the situation becomes very sensitive.
There are a lot of strategies used to handle such situation and the members of this site are very good in describing how the situation should be handled. Though giving advice on such matters is very easy, its enforcement or implementation is difficult and is with us only. Still many suggestions can be analysed in the light of your actual scenario and try it.
In a militant trade union situation like that of yours the first thing I would suggest is to let the employees go for strike for a few days or even for a few weeks. If you initiate a disciplinary action against a leader of the trade union (who is also an employee) for any act of misconduct from his side, the members will call for a strike. When they stop work, they will reasonable expect that you will call them for a meeting. But instead of calling them for meeting, declare the strike as illegal quoting the relevant clauses of your Standing Orders or Industrial Disputes Act and put your findings of the strike in the leading news papers. Also inform the Labour department of the illegal strike.
During this time, if you are able to get mandates from some employees who are very junior with respect to date of joining/ probationers/ who are not directly involved or weak in trade union involvement that they were forced to participate in the strike by intimidation by the other striking persons, then that will be good. That can be used against the striking employees.
A meeting with the trade union can be announced only if they stop strike. Also involve the Labour department in the conciliation proceedings. Since an MLA is involved, it will always be in favour of the employees, but you will get an opportunity to highlight the goondaism or arrogance of the trade union members and the loss caused to the company due to their attitude. If any settlement arises in the course of conciliation, naturally, we can include the condition that in future the employees will adhere to the rules of the company and will maintain decorum.
Media can also play a vital role in your fight against the unfair practices of the trade union. You should be very specific about the execution part. I understand that you might have held a lot of formal and informal meetings with your employees and their trade union leaders. Therefore, holding another meeting without Labour Officer or any conciliation person out side the company would be fruitful. Therefore, if the management agrees that let the plant be closed for a few weeks, I would suggest that we should allow them to strike and lose their wages.
I would request others who have faced similar situation to put insights on this issue.
Regards,
Madhu.T.K