Dear Girish,
Once any settlement u/s 18(1) becomes converted u/s 12(3) of the Industrial Disputes Act,1947 before a conciliation officer, it stands on a higher pedestal and would also be binding the minority workmen who were not signatories to the settlement and the same would be in force till it is replaced by another settlement. It cannot be successfully challenged by the minority unless the terms are unfair and violative of the provisions of any law and the determination of majority done by misrepresentation of facts and figures. That is the legal position.
However, the effective implementation of a wage settlement whether done u/s 18(1) or 12 (3) of the ID Act,1947 with the majority union in the establishment depends on so many factors like the majority-minority ratio among the unionized workmen, the numerical proportion of the regular and contract labor engaged in the same kind of activities, the fairness of the rate of hike in wages under the settlement and its parity with the prevailing wage rates in similar industries in the region, the proportionality of the hike linked to revision of work load, if any, the rationale behind the distribution of the hike among the various components of the wage-structure, the time gap between the previous settlement and the present one, the effect of the settlement whether retrospective or prospective, the over all performance of the industry and its profitability in the past and present, the possible realignment of union membership afterwards by the effective propaganda of the dissidents and the like.
Therefore, effective implementation of the settlement is in the hands of both the management and the majority union who signed the settlement. The management should avoid negative attitude as well as retaliatory action against the dissidents for anything unpleasant occurred during negotiations.
The management should try to effect the terms of the settlement immediately in the letter and spirit of the settlement in its entirety.
The majority union should also convince all the workmen about the reasonableness of the terms of the settlement and positively highlight the circumstances under which it was signed by means like gate meetings, distribution of hand bills.