Determinants of Industrial Disputes: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Industry

Abstract

This paper examines the determinants of industrial disputes in Indian manfuacturing industry. The study is in the context of drastic decline in the number and intensity of industrial disputes in India. Compared to the existing studies, determinants of three dimensions of industrial disputes, namely number of disputes, number of workers involved and number of mandays lost are examined by segregating them into strikes and lockouts. The study shows that contract labour and import competition have significant negative effect on industrial disputes. It is also found that strikes are more responsive to contract labour and lockouts are more responsive to import competition. The study also shows that female presence in the labour force is significantly reducing the number of strikes and lockouts.