How Should We Address Non-Conformance on Union Activity Restrictions in Our Standing Order?

Please clarify the points mentioned in the certified Standing Order by JCL.

Canvassing of Union Membership

"Canvassing of union membership or collection of union subscription within the premises of the establishment or canvassing for any union activities within the premises of the factory without the permission of the management."

The above point is not accepted by the third-party compliance auditor. He raised a non-conformance and stated, "Management interferes with union activities." So, there is no freedom of association.

Instead of following the clause "Canvassing of Union membership or collection of union subscription within the premises of the establishment or canvassing for any union activities within the premises of the factory without the permission of the Management.", please insert:

Canvassing of Union membership or collection of union subscription within the premises of the establishment or canvassing for any union activities within the premises of the factory shall be strictly discouraged by Management and get it approved by the Certifying Officer.

This is my suggestion. Our learned senior member, Umakanthan sir, can throw more light on this and clear your doubts.

Management Interference in Union Activities

The comment that the proposed clause amounts to management interference in union activities is clearly not acceptable. What is being prohibited is such activities at the work premises, that too without the permission of management, so the freedom of speech and association guaranteed by the constitution is not whittled down at all. There is an arguable case that even the Constitution does not specify the right to form an association or freedom of speech as absolute rights but has put reasonable restrictions on enjoying these rights. Probably, you can refer to the judgment of the higher courts that salary is paid for work and not for union activity.

Thanks for your valuable comments. The reply given to the third-party compliance auditor is as follows, but there has been no response:

“To avoid the situation where employees may be canvassed for unethical activities by one of them, such practices may affect the company and other employees, even the brands with which the company is working (like H&M, Disney, etc.). Nowadays, a lot of such unethical activities are happening around via social media and many other means which the establishment may not be aware of. This is the reason why 'informing & getting permission' is necessary, and the standing order has been approved by the respective government authority. For your kind information, in our factory, no action has been taken on the above grounds, which was also clearly mentioned by the auditor in the report.

As per our policy of freedom of association, since no trade union exists, the management has procedures for facilitating the conduct of elections for worker representatives (WR). They allow workers to freely elect their own representative as per the local rule. Management will not influence or interfere with the worker representative election. Management will recognize and respect the trade union/all committees.”

Please share your views.

Purpose of the Organization

The basic purpose of the organization is to run activities on a day-to-day basis hassle-free. The organization is liberal about conducting elections for the selection of WR. There will be no management interference; however, management is considering informing and obtaining permission. Informing is okay, but getting permission is interference for control. It is important to note that all activities should be conducted after working hours, not during working hours, which is a common practice in most Indian organizations.

Regards, S K Bandyopadhyay