Trade Unions in India- A brief history

Due to economic difficulties created by the First World War, a lot of industrial disputes arose
characterised by severe worker unrest due to rising cost of living leading to demands for higher
wages. In 1919 India’s first trade union, the Madras Labour Union was formed and by 1949 there
were four central Trade unions operating in the country namely
1) The All India Trade Union Congress
2) The Indian National Trade Union Congress
3) The Hindu Mazdoor Sangh,
4) The United Trade Union Congress

Prior to economic liberalisation policy of 1991, the industrial relations system in India sought to
control conflicts and disputes through excessive labour legislations. These labour laws were extensive
in nature and ranged from health, wages, working conditions, amenities, etc. There was immense
support from the central government in terms of laws to protect the interests of workers.

Post Liberalisation Effects

Globalization refers to a world in which cultures, politics and economies intermingle and generally
become closer to each other. After the globalization of Indian economy there has been reduction in
employment generation in organized sector. In the Private Sector, employment has increased but it
only forms 31% of the total workforce. In the case of the Public Sector which constitutes 69% of the
total employment generation has been low. Apart from this, globalisation may inhibit domestic
production as it may induce import of those products which are cheaper. Thus, all in all the impact of
globalisation on employment generation can be said to be negative.

De-Licencing and the MRTP Act

De-Licencing and the removal of threshold limits on Assets of most industries created a matter of
cheer for workers. The licencing policy was considered to be detrimental to the growth of industries
and therefore its removal was considered by workers to be in their best interest. Thus in a way, the
new policies helped the workers to unite and in fact even aid the management in some ways in order
to increase productivity and growth.

Effects on Labour Laws

While traditionally India has always been a harbinger of protective labour policies and safeguarding
the interests of the workers, with the advent of globalisation there has been a move towards strike
regulation policy as opposed to industrial relations policy in order to protect the interests of MNCs.

Implications on Employment
The biggest issue with the economic reforms and the industrial restructuring is retrenchment with
around 4.17 lakh workers working in close to 60 chronically sick firms.

Impact of Technology
Technology upgradation has created concerns of machines replacing workers. Earlier introduction of
technology was limited to the industrial sector but now it has spread to all the three sectors causing
widespread worry amongst workers.

Privatization
Generally, trade unions were not in favour of too much privatization as they believed that they would
be exploited by greedy companies and that the working conditions of workers would deteriorate.
Measures taken by Trade Unions in the face of Globalisation
Dealing with International Organisations in order to influence policies and expanding their network to
engage with partners across the globe has become a necessity and is slowly becoming a norm in India.

Trade Unions have faced the globalisation issue by pro-actively engaging with trade unions across the
globe as well as various other organisations such as the ILO and ensuring that they can take advantage
of the expertise as well as support of organisations from different nations in framing their policies and
take more informed decisions.

They have also started working with managements of organisations in order to offer their
support in terms of improving productivity and quality in order to work constructively together
for the good of the organisation. They have pressed politically to ensure that there is no
compromise legally with regards to their rights just in order to attract MNCs.

References

http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_087711/lang--
en/index.htm
http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/8118/14/14_chapter%206.pdf

http://iosrjournals.org/iosr-jbm/papers/Vol16-issue4/Version-1/G016414753.pdf