A Study of Trade Unions at Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s Facility at Haridwar

“Is it desirable to have a trade union free workplace in India?”

A study of Trade Unions at Hindustan Unilever ltd’s Facility at Haridwar

Human Resource Management, Term III

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Submitted To:      

Prof. A Uday Bhaskar

Executive Summary

Trade unions are organized by labourer to engage in an effort to solve their problems that arise in an industrial setup. They are voluntary associations formed to promote and to protect their interests by collective actions and constitute an integral part of the relationship between employers and the employed. They engage in bargaining with the employers to ensure better working conditions, fair wages, security of job, etc. for their members. They also defend against any injustice and exploitation by their employers. As far as industrial peace is concerned, existence of a strong and recognized trade union is a pre-requisite. It is much influential when decisions taken through the process of collective bargaining and negotiations between employer and unions.

This study aims to reflect upon the various managerial implication of having a trade union at work place and develop a deeper understanding of various decision making variables in such scenario. We aim to comment upon whether it is desirable to have a trade union in contemporary time, its various advantages and disadvantages for management and employees alike.  

Introduction

Sidkul, Haridwar houses Hindustan Unilever’s largest multi-category site with 8 factories across 110 Lines with 370 Machines. With an overall annual volume of 1,85,000 Tonnes and an overall Gross Revenue of 6,000 crores, this plant brings in 1/6th of total HUL’s total revenue in India. 

Six HUL factories were recognized for Economic Times India Manufacturing Excellence Awards (IMEA), 2016.  The credits to this has been the excellent workforce and union relations which has helped them to avoid any major stoppage of manufacturing process in the last 5 years. This has been achieved by careful training of incoming managers specially tailored to towards understanding the culture and needs of various trade unions in place at various facilities.

Each manager under a necessary training to 2 weeks wherein he or she made aware of various nuances of dealing with various union members, their cultural background and regional needs. These training often include knowledge about their origins and culture, issues those are sensitive to them, their festivals and needs. These training have helped Unilever to reduce the number of issues considerably and  managers more often than not have pacified issues at the spot without raising much concern to the higher management.

We present a comprehensive study about our findings in this report about the management relations and policies for the trade unions with case in point: HUL’s Haridwar Facility.

Objectives of Study

This study aims to presents a comprehensive study about existing trade unions at Hindustan Unilever Ltd’s Haridwar Facility.  It aims to narrate the advantages and disadvantages of having a trade union in the place at the facility from both the organizational and Labour perspective. With this study we aim to answer the following questions and in the process develop learning that would help us understand decision making implications to carry forward in future.

1. Steps and precautions involved in resolving conflicts, strikes, executing terminations, etc.
2. Challenges encountered in dealing with two different trade unions in the same factory and the relative equation between the two trade unions.
3. Strategies adopted to meet the different requirements of the trade unions.
4. Accounts of any recent issues or conflicts encountered with regards to administering the trade unions?
5. Are these two trade unions affiliated to any major trade organization in the country or political party? Its implications, if any.

Analysis

The primary research contains data from the HUL’s workforce at Sidkul plant.

three trade unions exists here namely :

1. Pahari Union
2. Plain Union
3. Devbhoomi Union

The Devbhoomi Union has the maximum strength with 556 union members. The Plain Union and, Pahari  Union has 332 and 256 members. Each of these unions are recognized by HUL.

Each of these unions has its own separate structure. When it comes to appointment of  President and Vice-President, these unions conduct their separate election. These elected members are more commonly known as union leaders. Each of these three unions have their own elected representative who holds the “Long Term Settlement” talks with management. Apart from that, any major talks involving a member and the management happens in presence of his or her union leader. Any concern raised against a member of union has to be conveyed to the union leader in most cases.

Cultural Differences Among Unions

Devbhoomi Union- These are the original natives of Uttarakhand. Garwali is the major language spoken by these people. This union has the largest base of 556 union members. Their language has many dialects like tehri, pauri and lohbya. Often people of different dialects speak different type of Garhwali which often is hard to understand by the people of other community.

Pahari Union - This union comprises members who migrated in past from upper mountainous regions of Kumaon region to industrial areas around north India in search of livelihood and employment. Kumaoni is the major language spoken by the members of this union and have similar dialects across all members. These people have good unity, work ethics and generally are much amenable to management directives.  Also, they are the most complaint of all the unions. But these members are highly sensitive to any critical comments passed by the managers and disheartened very soon. Hence, utmost care is exercised while having a conversation with them.