Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter X. - Railways - continued

Collection:: Economics Books

164 CHAPTER X. Agent and the Railway Board. There are other problems arising out of service conditions affecting individuals, grades and classes of workers that require adequate facilities for ventilation and settlenent. The method of dealing with these varies on different railways. Usually appeals or petitions are forwarded through supervising subordinates bo the executive officer concerned ; sometimes they are dealt with by appropriate committees, and on some railways they may go wup bo the Agent. We recommend that the procedure should be made aniform on all railways. It is Important that grievances should be ventilated, and we believe that the local and district or divisional committees and railway councils referred to later provide appropriate channels for dealing with these problems. Establishment and employ- ment officers are of great assistance to workers in this connection and we recommend their appointment on all railways. They have already proved their value, especially in the large workshops, and we consider their activities can usefully be extended, specially if employment bureaux are set up to serve as a further link between the personnel officers and the employees in the larger centres. Joint Standing Machinery. Only within the last twelve years has it been found advis- able to set up machinery to deal with matters of a general nature in- volving questions of principle affecting classes or grades of workers. Previously matters in dispute were generally settled by direct discussion between the district officers and the men concerned. The economic disturbance and the rise in the cost of living that directly followed the war witnessed the rapid growth of the trade union movement amongst railway employees, in common with other industrial workers all over India. By 1919 workers had resorted to strikes in order to force increases of wages, and for a year or two these were frequent. Most of them were the result of grievances regarding wages and other service condi- tions, some took the form of protests against discharges or dismissals and a small number was said to be due to extraneous influences, In an effort to provide means of discussion of questions in dispute, a district welfare committee was introduced in 1922 in the traffic department of one railway. The following year the then Chief Commis- sioner of Railways advocated a scheme of co-ordinated local committees for the local settlement of disputes and, what was considered more important, for their prevention. He visualised in each district of the railway a committee composed of equal numbers of workers and of representatives of the administration, the work of these committees being co-ordinated by a central council for each railway. The func- tions of the committees would extend to a variety of subjects, embracing not only the ventilation and timely redress of grievances but all matters connected with the welfare of the staff. Their recommendations would be considered by the competent authorities, and matters of a general nature affecting the railway system as a whole would be placed before the central council and the Agent, who would have in his office a welfare section in the charge of a special officer. Early in 1924,

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