Dear Friends,                                                                                                                                                                     Following is just one of 200+ letters that I wrote to 7500 employees of Larsen & Turbo Ltd’s, Mumbai factory, when I was General Manager (1979 - 1987). This open honest communication led to a remarkable improvement in industrial relations. If you wish to download the entire set, just click here  

Regards,

Hemen Parekh

www.indiarecruiter.net

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To:

 Dear Colleague  

INFILTRATING THE UNION ?    

I may be accused of  giving you an overdose of Japan but that only goes  to show that I  have such a high  respect for your capacity to absorb  things Japanese ! When  it comes to ball pens,  digital  watches,  cameras,  two-in-ones,  tape-decks, colour-TV, walkman  and a  hundred other Japanese  things, we never  seem to  have enough !.  So why  leave  out "Japanese Industrial Culture" from our list ? In the enclosed article.  Dr. Maheshwari tells us  how labour unions are organised in Japan. Now  those of  you  who belong  to  our management-cadre  may wonder why you  should worry how labour unions  are organised in Japan - or for that matter even in India .! To me  it is obvious why the  managers amongst us  must think about  the organisation  of labour  union.  Someone  has said that  "health is  too serious  a  matter to  be  left to  the Doctor - and education is too  serious a matter to be left to the Educationists." It is for  the same reason that I think  that organisation of labour unions  is  too serious a  matter  to be  left to  the workman .! Which  is  not .the  same  thing  as saying  that  we  should interfere  in the  internal affairs  of a  union and  that we should try to run their show ! Quite  contrarily  ! Managers  have   enough  "management-problems"  on their  hands  as it  is,  without  taking on  a union's "internal affairs". But if  those "internal affairs" start  hurting the long-term interests  of  our organisation  and  the  interests  of  our employees at large,  I do not think we  should remain silent. It is then time to do  some plain-speaking and say "enough is enough" .! 

We must not  give-up our right  to "influence" (not interfere with)  the  union  organisation  when  issues  crop-up  which cut-across the  subscription-barrier.  And this  is where the Japanese labour union  organisation is of interest  to all of us at L&T, because, at one place the article reads,

"For all employees  of Hitachi Ltd., upto  Asst. Manager level, union membership is  compulsory.  In other words, every senior  executive of  Hitachi spends at  least ten years  as  member  of  the   Union  and  may  have  even functioned as an office-bearer of  the Union during this period."Do you see the point ?  Would you say that "  -   The  top-echelons  of  Hitachi   management  has  been infiltrated with Union - members ? " or that, " - The rank-and-file  of Hitachi union has been  polluted by future managers masquerading as union-members ? " And for  my unionised friends who  will receive  this note,  I would  like  to quote  MR.  MISU  (in  1977, Executive  Vice-President and Director of  Hitachi Ltd., - and now Advisor  to the  Board   of Hitachi   Ltd.)  from  "Management  of  Human Resources in Japan", "The Japanese  workers do not necessarily  work only for money  and  it   is  customary  for  us   not  to  raise complaints about monetary matters. If we  think of the total benefit of  the country, there is  no doubt  that we  would be  better off  without any strike,  and the  economic growth  of Japan  was largely accelerated  by this  moderate  behaviour of  the Union. The fact that the labour union exists, does not mean that  it has to fight every  time.  Reaching an amicable solution  is the  best way  for both  the Union  and the company.   We know  that  frequent strikes  endanger the base  of the country  as is  observed in United Kingdom. I have  an impression that when both  parties persist in their  opinion at the sacrifice of national  interest, it is a  wrong choice."—  

 H.C. PAREKH 

 

 

December 12, 1984

M-17