Trade unions in India
Regulatory authorityMinistry of Labour and Employment
Global Rights Index
5 No guarantee of rights
Freedom of AssociationNot ratified
Right to OrganiseNot ratified

Trade unions in India are registered and file annual returns under the Trade Union Act (1926). Statistics on trade unions are collected annually by the Labour Bureau of the Ministry of Labour, Government of India. As per the latest data, released for 2012, there were 16,154 trade unions which had a combined membership of 9.18 million (based on returns from 15 States – out of a total of 28 states and 9 union territories).[1] The trade union movement in India is largely divided along political lines and follows a pre-Independence pattern of overlapping interactions between political parties and unions.[2] The net result of this type of system is debated as it has both advantages and disadvantages. According to the data submitted by various trade unions to the Ministry of Labour and Employment as part of a survey, INTUC with a combined membership of 33.3 million, has emerged as the largest trade union in India as of 2013.[3]

The firm or industry level trade unions are often affiliated to larger federations. The largest federations in the country represent labour at the national level and are known as central trade union organisations (CTUO). As of 2002, when the last trade union verification was carried out, there are 12 CTUOs recognised by the Ministry of Labour.[4]

History

The setting up of textile and clothing mills around the port cities of Bombay (now Mumbai), Calcutta (now Kolkata), Madras (now Chennai) and Surat in the second half of the 19th century led to the beginnings of the industrial workforce in India. Several incidents of strikes and protests by workers have been recorded during this time. The credit for the first association of Indian workers is generally given to the Bombay Mill-Hands Association founded by N.M. Lokhande in 1890. This was in the period just after the passing of the 'First' Factories Act in 1881 by the British government of the time. The following years saw the formation of several labour associations and unions. The first clearly registered trade-union is considered to be the Madras Labour Union founded by B.P. Wadia in 1918, while the first trade union federation to be set up was the All India Trade Union Congress in 1920.

Following the rapid growth of unions around the time of the First World War, the Russian Revolution and the setting up of the ILO, industrial conflict began to increase and over 1,000 strikes were recorded between 1920 and 1924. The waves of strikes boiled over with the arrest of prominent leaders and trade-unionists in the infamous 'Cawnpore Conspiracy case' in 1924 with the union leaders being arrested and accused of attempting a Communist revolution to try and overthrow the ruling British government. Subsequently, the Trade Union Act (1926) was passed which created the rules for the regulation and closer monitoring of trade unions. In the first year of the law's operation, 28 unions registered and submitted returns with a total membership 100,619.[5] The number of unions grew rapidly after that and by the time of independence of India in 1947, there were 2,766 unions registered which had a combined membership of over 1.66 million. This resulted in a wide influence of unions and workers' organisations and led to significantly favourable social legislation being enacted in the first decade of Independence. Several important labour laws were passed during this time.

Independence (1947) to liberalisation (1991)

Following the country's independence in 1947 and the formation of the republic in 1950, India largely followed a socialist economic approach encouraging public sector employment and pro-worker legislations. The trade-union movement reflected the main political divisions of the time and was divided mainly along socialist and communist lines. The subsequent decades saw significant expansion in trade union membership with the number of active unions reaching its peak in the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. While the 1970s in India was a period characterised by political instability, the 1980s was characterised by the beginnings of a distinct turn towards more market-friendly policies, support for industrialists and an implicit opposition to workers. Two key events during this period were the 1974 railway strike in India and the Great Bombay textile strike of 1982, the latter of which subsequently led to a long and complicated stalemate.

Liberalisation (1991) to present

The period following the economic liberalisation in 1991 was characterised by declining government intervention in the economy, a decline in the creation of public sector employment and encouragement for the private sector. Efforts for unionisation in the private sectors were often met with opposition and the wider general withdrawal of state support for workers further undermined their bargaining power. These policies led to a stagnation in the number of unionised formal sector workers.

A gradual shift in focus about the importance of the Informal sector and 'Informal employment in the formal sector' from the late 1990s onwards meant that trade unions also began to focus on these workers. This has led to greater enrolment of these workers and subsequently led to increases in union membership. The central trade union organisations (CTU's) increased their combined membership from 13.21 million in 1989 to 24.85 million in 2002. Almost all the CTUOs now have at least 20 percent of their official members coming from the informal sector.

Central trade union organisations (CTUOs) of India

Local, firm-level or industry-level trade unions are often affiliated to larger federations. The largest federations in the country represent labour at the national level and are known as central trade union organisations (CTU or CTUO). To acquire status as a CTUO, a trade union federation must have a verified membership of at least 500,000 workers who are spread over a minimum of four states and four industries (including agriculture). Trade-union membership verification is usually done once in a decade and an updated verification with new criteria is currently underway, with 2011 as the reference year.[6] Complications around membership verification have existed due to discrepancies between membership claimed by the unions and actual members. These complications have increased in recent years following the wider inclusion of informal sector workers in union membership data.

The International Labour Organization has listed 12 organisations which are officially recognised as CTUOs under terms the Ministry of Labour.[7]

List of CTUOs as of 2002
Acronym Labour Union Membership (1989)[8] Membership (2002)[8] Membership (2013)[9][10] Political Relationship International Affiliation
1 AICCTU All India Central Council of Trade Unions 639,962 2,500,000 Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation
2 AITUC All India Trade Union Congress 1,798,093 2,677,979 14,200,000 Communist Party of India World Federation of Trade Unions
3 AIUTUC All India United Trade Union Centre 802,806 1,368,535 4,700,000 Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist)
4 BMS Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh 3,117,324 6,215,797 17,100,000 Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
5 CITU Centre of Indian Trade Unions 1,477,472 3,222,532 5,700,000 Communist Party of India (Marxist) World Federation of trade unions
6 HMS Hind Mazdoor Sabha 923,517 3,342,213 9,200,000 International Trade Union Confederation
7 INTUC Indian National Trade Union Congress 2,706,451 3,892,011 33,300,000 Indian National Congress International Trade Union Confederation
8 LPF Labour Progressive Federation 611,506 1,900,000 Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
9 SEWA Self Employed Women's Association 539,523 606,935 1,700,000 International Trade Union Confederation
10 UTUC United Trade Union Congress 229,225 383,946 Revolutionary Socialist Party
11 TUCC Trade Union Coordination Centre 230,139 732,760 1,600,000 All India Forward Bloc
12 INMOSSA INDIAN NATIONAL MINES OVERMAN , SIRDAR AND SHOT FIRERS ASSOCIATION 1,11,241 1,80,231 1,50,583

Other trade unions and centres

(Incomplete list, In Alphabetical order)

(Railway Loco Pilots Trade Union)

Notable trade union leaders in India

(In Alphabetical order)

Participants

According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) of 2019, it shows that the Indian economy has shrunk for the first time in four decades, from 467.7 million in 2011-12 to 461.5 million in 2017-18. Agriculture experienced the most massive layoffs, with 29.3 million workers losing their jobs. Women account for the vast majority of those who have lost their jobs (24.7 million).[11]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2016. Retrieved 16 April 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ↑ Bhattacharya, Gautam (2022). "Trade Unionism in Competitive Politics: The Story of an Arrangement Clerk", The Indian Journal of Industrial Relations, Vol. 57, No. 4, April 2022 (pg.702-712)
  3. ↑ Menon, Sreelatha (6 April 2013). "Indian trade unions are getting bigger, coinciding with slowdown". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
  4. ↑ Order of verification of membership of trade unions affiliated to CTUOs, as of 31 Dec. 2002 (MoLE, 2008)
  5. ↑ Indian Labour Year Book, 1946
  6. ↑ "English Releases". Pib.nic.in. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  7. ↑ "Workers' and Employers' Organizations in South Asia (ILO in India)". www.ilo.org.
  8. 1 2 "Table 1: Aggregate data on membership of CTUOs 1989 and 2002 (Provisional)" (PDF). Labour File. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 April 2011.
  9. ↑ Dhoot, Vikas (6 April 2013). "INTUC claims 3.33 crore members; Gives Cong required poll boost". The Economic Times. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  10. ↑ Menon, Sreelatha (6 April 2013). "Indian trade unions are getting bigger, coinciding with slowdown". Business Standard India. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  11. ↑ Ambedkar, P., & Prashad, V. (2020). India’s Liberalisation Project and the Future of Trade Unions. Tempo Social : Revista de Sociologia Da USP, 32(1), 29–51. https://doi.org/10.11606/0103-2070.ts.2020.164980
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