Voluntary Arbitration

Voluntary arbitration is the process by which two parties engaged in an industrial dispute choose to
refer the dispute to a third person, known as the ‘Arbitrator’ selected on mutual consensus of both
the parties to resolve the dispute. Unlike a conciliation process whereby the conciliation officer is
merely a facilitator of negotiation proceeding between the two parties, an arbitrator is also given the
power to pass a judgement after considering the case of both the parties. Voluntary arbitration is
usually the next step once the conciliation fails and the decision of the arbitrator is binding on both
the parties. Section 10A (1) of the ID Act inserted in the act during the 1956 amendment authorises
the parties to engage in voluntary arbitration.

Conditions

The following conditions must be satisfied for referring a dispute for voluntary arbitration

1) There should be written agreement signed by both the parties in the prescribed manner.
This agreement should be made prior to referring the dispute.
2) One copy of the signed agreement should be sent to the appropriate government and te
Conciliation Officer. The government must publish it in the Official Gazette.

Process

1) For any industrial dispute, the appropriate government will satisfy itself that the dispute is
being supported by majority of the workmen.
2) The employees or employers who are not party to the contract but have some vested
interest in the dispute will be summoned to present their case.
3) The arbitration award, i.e., the final judgement by the arbitrator will be submitted to the
government. After publishing in the Gazette, the award will become enforceable.
4) The award will be binding to all parties to the agreement including the parties who had been
summoned to attend the proceedings as parties to the dispute.