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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]
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.
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.
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.
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]
(Incomplete list, In Alphabetical order)
(Railway Loco Pilots Trade Union)
(In Alphabetical order)
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]
Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) is a communist party in India. The party is one of many working under the name of CPI (ML). The party general secretary was Kanu Sanyal. The name of the party is identical to the original Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) formed in 1969, of which Sanyal was also a key leader, but Sanyal has stated that his party is not the same as this party.
The Peasants and Workers Party of India (PWP) is a Marxist political party in Maharashtra, India. The party was founded in 1948, having its roots from the pre-Independence period and has around 10,000 members. The influence of the party is largely limited to three districts. The party was founded in Maharashtra by Keshavrao Jedhe of Pune, Shankarrao More, Bhausaheb Raut of Mumbai, Nana Patil of Satara, Tulshidas Jadhav of Solapur, Dajiba Desai of Belgaum, Madhavrao Bagal of Kolhapur, P K Bhapkar and Datta Deshmukh of Ahmednagar, Vithalrao Hande and others.
The Indian People's Front (IPF) was a mass front organisation founded in Delhi between 24–26 April 1982. It was conceptualised by Vinod Mishra and it was operated as the open mass front of the CPIML Liberation between 1982–1994. The front primarily worked for the social and economic upliftment of Adivasis, Dalits and impoverished sections of society and mobilised them through the means of unions, rallies and conventions.
All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU) is a central trade union federation in India. It is politically attached to Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, AICCTU had a membership of 639,962 in 2002.
The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh is a trade union in India. It was founded by Dattopant Thengadi on 23 July 1955.
The Communist Ghadar Party of India is a far-left political party that is committed to a communist revolution in India based on Marxism–Leninism.
Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union literally 'Indian Land Workers Union' is a trade union of agricultural labourers in India. BKMU is politically tied to the Communist Party of India (CPI). BKMU is independent from both the main trade union central of CPI, the All India Trade Union Congress, as well as the farmers' organisation of CPI, the All India Kisan Sabha.
The Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) was formed by the Socialists in 1948 but has little real connection with the Socialist Party. It is one of the least political and most pragmatic trade-union federations in India. The HMS is affiliated with the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.
The Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) was one of the largest two armed Maoist groups in India, and fused with the other, the People's War Group in September 2004, to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist).
N. V. Krishnaiah was a communist politician from Andhra Pradesh, India. He was a municipal councillor in Nellore, member of the Andhra Pradesh legislature, president of the Indian Federation of Trade Unions and a central leader in the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).
Shripad Amrit Dange,, was an Indian politician who was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the 20th century, Dange was arrested by the authorities for communist and trade union activities and was jailed for an overall period of 13 years.
The Bolshevik Party of India is an Indian political party in India. The party was founded in 1939. The party had a certain role in the trade union movement in West Bengal and was briefly represented in the state government in 1969. In later years the party has played a negligible role in Indian politics.
Disunited and poorly organized for most of its history, trade unions in Ecuador developed only slowly and had only a marginal political impact. Precise figures on unionization in the late 1980s were practically nonexistent, even within the unions themselves. The organized labor movement in Ecuador was divided into four confederations and a number of independent federations. At the local level, labor organizations also took the form of artisan guilds, cooperatives, and neighborhood associations. In addition to representing only a minority of the workers in all sectors of employment, the labor movement traditionally was weakened by rivalry and government repression. Nevertheless, it had influence disproportionate to its numbers as a result of the concentration of trade unions in urban areas, mainly Quito and Guayaquil, its organizational power, and the political impact of strikes and demonstrations on governments that did not enjoy strong support.
The All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress (AHTUC) was a trade union centre in the Hyderabad State. Affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress, it claimed a membership of around 72,000. The trade union centre, which was aligned with the Communist Party of India, was one of the organisations that took part in the Telangana Rebellion against the Nizam regime.
Sanjeev Singh is an Indian politician and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party. He was an elected member of the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly from the Jharia constituency in Dhanbad district. In the 2014 Jharkhand Assembly Elections. He is currently serving a sentence in prison.
The All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) is the largest trade union of Indian Railways workers with a membership of 1.4 million. AIRF was founded on 16 February 1925. It is affiliated with the socialist trade union centre Hind Mazdoor Sabha.
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