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Trade Union Rivalry and Problems of Leadership During British rule, TUs actively associated themselves with political

parties, especially INC; Many leaders were closely associated with TU movement In striving for victory of their ideologies and programmes, main political parties could not hope to succeed unless they drew in trade unions within their fold; TUs provided channels of communication for spread of political ideologies and dissemination of political ideas; Link between AITUC and CPI,INTUC and INC HMS and Socialist,CITU and CPI(M),BMS and BJP and UTUC and smaller parties of left is well known; Introduction of party politics has weakened TU movement; M.N.Roy founder of Radical Democratic Party of India asserted during establishment of Indian Federation of Labour in 1942 in opposition to AITUC, we propose to build up TU organization to function according to fundamental principles of TU; TUs should not be used as a platform for one or the other political party Advantages of domination of political parties over TUs; it has helped in acquisition of strength and status within a short period, facilitating election of a large number of trade union leaders to parliament, state legislature and other elected local bodies, bringing large number of unorganized workers into the trade union fold and adoption of liberal outlook among trade unionists; Harmful effects of dominance of political parties over TUs are encouragement of TU rivalry along political lines and multiplicity of unions, creating factionalism in same TU and use of TU for political purposes not directly concerned with economic interests of members In Britain British Trades Union Congress created British labour party and maintains a measure of control over it, it is the political parties that control and dominate TUs in India; Advantages of domination Without leaders and political workers form various political ideologies, devoted to nursing nascent unions in a self-sacrificing mood, Indian TU would Not have attained stature that they command today; Main strength of TU is their collaboration with political parties; it is in parliament and State Legislatures that TUs have their strongest spokesman; Extent type and number of protective labour laws adopted since 1947 is an indication of political influence of Indian TU movement; Due to TU rivalry more and more workers have been brought into the fold of TU; Disadvantages of the domination

TU rivalry sch as in Indian railways, there are two parallel federations:Indian Railwaymens Federation and National Federation of Indian Railwaymen, in textile industry,, banking and so on; Most of the time efforts of rival unions have been towards ousting the rivals, aspiring for positions, jurisdictional conflicts, splitting along political lines and unhealthy rivalry; INTUC all the time accuse AITUC,BMS and CITU of bringing political considerations in employeremployee relationship while AITUC and CITU accuse BMS and INTUC of being controlled by employers and dominated by govt. Motivations of leaders of TU movement in india BPWadia,Joseph Baptisa,Jhabwala,Andrews guided by humanitarianism and philanthropy; Lala lajpat Rai,Sarojini Naidu,Jawahar lal Nehru,SCBose organized workers to secure mass base; N.M.Joshi and Bakhale worked towards welfare of the workers; Gandhi, Anasuyaben Sarabhai, Shankarlal Bankar, Gulzarilal Nanda, Khandubhai Desai, Somnath Dave, SRVasavara and Arvind Buch followed Gandhian approach; Outsiders Control of Indian TU movement by political parties has resulted in parties controlling the top leaders not only in case of national federations but also in cases of individual unions operating at plant or industrial level; Through leaders Indian political parties control policies and day to day working of TUs; such leaders are known as outsiders; Outside leaders constitute a minority on trade union executive but play a key role in decision-making process because of better knowledge, competence and political influence; Outsiders are people from political parties,independent of political parties with political ambitions,people interested in welfare of workers,people partly interested in welfare of workers and partly in promoting their own personal goals; Outside leaders are very highly educated and are aware of laws, regulations,and can argue cases before tribunals, administrative authorities etc. Unaffiliated Leadership Since majority of unions in the country still continue to be unaffiliated to any of the central federations, leaders of such groups are independent of political parties; Unaffiliated character of lager number of TU can be explained in terms of political independence of their leaders; still a large section of TU leadership in India is beyond reach of political parties;

TU and Outside leadership Main advantages accruing from outside leadership have been very helpful in strengthening of movement within a short period, facilitating the extension of effective pressures on employers and govt. and promoting and protecting workers interests in a more effective manner; Adverse consequences of outside leadership When economic demands are made and agitations are started based on political requirements of the party concerned; when negotiations with employers fail due to political situations, when strikes are caused without any dispute, when strikes are caused to put pressure on govt it can be said that political considerations are visible on IR scenario; Adverse consequences of outside leadership in movement have comprised: division of movement on political lines and encouragement to multiplicity of unions, inter-union rivalry and intra-union factionalism, bringing extraneous considerations in functioning of unions, exploitation of workers for personal ends, indoctrination of workers in divergent political beliefs and inadequate attention to genuine workers interests A union which is less militant and which rarely resorts to strikes, is said to be conducted along trade union lines while union which shows resistance to employers dictates, strongly fights for workers rights and doesnt submit easily are said to be politically aspired; this is a wrong standard to judge extent of intrusion of political considerations into TU affairs; Militancy is a sign of growing TU consciousness rather than a symbol of political domination; When we examine general functioning of TUs in overall political life of the country political use of Indian TU becomes more apparent; If one examines frequency of issues of general strikes in country it can easily demonstrate predominance of political considerations; Emergence of Sectarian and Unconventional Leadership There has been emergence of leaders who do not have faith in conventional TU methods and established govt machinery for resolution of disputes Example is Datta Samant who emerged as dominant labour leader in 1970s and 1980s in Mumbai; Samant attained fame with successful Godrej strike in 1972 and succeeded in dislodging Shiv Sena Union and secured substantial wage increases for workers; Samant organized massive strike of textile workers in Bombay in 1982 which lasted about two years and ended in failure; Factors responsible for persistence of Outside Leadership Main factors responsible for persistence of outside leadership in Indian Trade union movement have been

Relative immaturity of the movement, hold of political parties, sociological factors, fear of victimization, illeteracy and lack of proper education of workers, small base of union-organization and poor finances of unions and increasing prestige of politicians and other personalities National Commission on Labour on Outside Leadership First National Commission on Labour (1969) while suggesting that outsiders in TUs should be redundant by forces from within them by a legal ban, recommended certain measures for developing internal leadership These included intensification of workers education, penalities for victimization and unfair labour practices, intensification of training workers in union organization, treating all ex-employees as insiders and establishing a convention that no union office-bearer will concurrently hold office in a political party limiting the proportion of outsiders in union executives: when membership of union is below 1,000 number of outsiders to be not more than 10%; between 1000 and 10000 it shouldnt exceed 20%; above 10,000 number not to exceed 30%; permissible limit for industry wide unions should be 30%; In line with amendment of TUAct,1926, in 2001, the Second National Commission on Labour (2002) in a draft legislation relating to labour management relations, suggested that not more than one-third or five, whichever is less, could be outsiders as office bearers of a TU; commission suggested that a retired or retrenched worker should be construed as outsider; commission also recommended the prohibition of members of Council of ministers or persons holding offices of profit in the union or a state from becoming members of the executive or other office-bearers of TUs; Central Board for Workers Education established in 1958 under the Ministry of Labour, GoI has been imparting training and related activities with a view of developing leadership among rank and file of workers and strong and responsible TUs and for strengthening democratic processes and traditions in TU movement; TU Rivalry and Recognition Union rivalry has been existing at all levels of unionsplant, establishment, locality, region, industry and even union; It has led to weakening of TUs, encouraged strikes and adversely affected the process of collective bargaining and settlement of industrial disputes; Effort at controlling inter-union rivalry and determination of representative unions in the country have been confined to non-statutory measures, particularly to Code of Conduct worked out by four central federations namely, INTUC, AITUC, HMS and UTUC in 1958 at instance of Indian Labour Conferences; Contents of code: Employee to have freedom to join union of his choice;

No dual membership of unions; Unreserved acceptance of and respect for democratic functioning of TU Regular and democratic elections of executive bodies and office bearers of TUs; Ignorance of workers shall not be exploited by any orgn.; Casteism, communalism and provincialism shall be denounced by all unions; No violence or coercion in inter-union dealings; In beginning parties to code INTUC,AITUC,HMS and UTUC showed enthusiasm towards concretizing principles laid down in code, they increasingly found it difficult to abide by them; National Labour Relations Act,1935 of USA is an example par excellence of trend of making recognition of TUs statutorily obligatory on employer; in Great Britain, Industrial Relations Act of 1971 also recognized claim of a TU to have exclusive right as a sole bargaining agent; In India there is a growing tendency among employers to recognize TU there are many employers still reluctant to do so; Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 Bombay Industrial Relations Act, 1946 was the first legislative measure in the country to find solution for competing claims of TU; Act provided for classification of registered TUs as: Representative Unions (having membership of not less than 15% employees in any industry in a local area) Qualified Unions (5% membership in any industry in local area) Primary Unions (15%of employees in an undertaking) A statutory measure was envisaged under the Trade Unions Amendment Act,1947 which tried to make recognition of unions compulsory for employees but the Act has not come into force; Main criteria for determination of representative unions used in the country have been verification of membership and secret ballot; method of verification of membership has been widely used, secret ballot method has not been used that often; First National Commission On Labour (1969) On Recognition Of TU Task to be entrusted to Industrial Relations Commission;

Commission to have power to decide representative character of unions either by examination of membership records or if it considers necessary by holding an election through secret ballot open to all employees; As regards qualifications for recognition, Commission made following recommendations: A TU seeking recognition as bargaining agent from an individual employer should have a membership of at least 30% of workers in establishment; if it is for an industry in a local area, the minimum membership should be 25%;where more unions than one contend for recognition, union having largest following should be recognized; Second National Commission On Labour (2002) On Recognition Of TU Second NCL suggested the system of check-off system in establishments or undertakings employing 300 or more workers and secret ballot in those employing less than 300 workers In establishments or undertakings employing 300 or more workers, every member of registered TU to authorise employer to deduct union membership fee from his wages Where registered TU has received such authorization from 66% of workers it can apply to Labour Relations Commission for certification as single negotiating agent; Where no union has received authorization from 66% of workers, union having received not less than 25% authorization may apply to Labour Relations Commission for certification as constituents of negotiating college Number of representatives in both cases to be determined based on check-off system Recognition of trade union In undertakings employing less than 300 workers any party may apply to Labour Relations Commission for holding secret ballot for determining negotiating agent; Where registered TU has received such authorization from 66% of workers it can apply to Labour Relations Commission for certification as single negotiating agent; Where no union has received authorization from 66% of workers, union having received not less than 25% authorization may apply to Labour Relations Commission for certification as constituents of negotiating college; Where there is no union a negotiating committee consisting of prescribed number of representatives as secret ballot will be certified as negotiating agent; Rights of Recognized Unions NCL of 1969 and 2002 both have enumerated rights of recognized unions or certified negotiating agents; these are rights to negotiate with employer and enter into collective agreements with him, nomination of workers representatives on statutory as well as non-statutory bodies, to give a call of strike (second NCL), to collect sums payable by members under the check-off system, to take up grievances of workers

for redressal, putting up notice boards on employers premises and display notices, circulars and statements on them, to inspect with prior arrangement of employer books of accounts (second NCL); Rights of Minority Unions NCLs have recommended rights of minority unions should be confined to representing their members in industrial disputes, collecting membership fee through check-off, taking up matters concerning their members with management; Second NCL On Rights Of Minority Unions A TU which has not been certified as a negotiating agent or has not been included in negotiating college but has secured 10% or more of votes in secret ballot or 10% or more of authorizations under check-off system will have rights to represent its members in individual disputes before authorities contemplated under proposed law, to take up matters of its members with management, to authorize employers to deduct union subscriptions from wages of its members; INTUC continues to be most representative from point of view of number of affiliates as well as membership; in 1989 BMS ranked first from point of view of membership Measures to strengthen TU movement in India Necessary to bring to hault Rivalry Leaders to be carefully chosen Minimum membership fee to be suitably enhanced and unions to have freedom to raise special funds in special situations such as strike; Desirable to dissociate those leaders who hold office of profit in govt or political parties from TU offices; Average size of indian TU very small; this is in sharp contrast to average size of unions in US and UK where bulk of membership is concentrated in big size unions TU movement in country can acquire additional strength if adequate attention is given to suggestions made by National Commission on labour(1969) on role of unions in promoting national integration and installing sense of responsibility towards industry and community Basic approach towards strengthening TU movement in the country should be enlargement of membership which calls for development of organizational skills among union leaders, improvement of services rendered to members, launching of meaningful struggles and denouncing of rivalry for petty gains; In 1982 the Indian Central government amended the Industrial Disputes Act of 1947 introducing the concept of the unfair labour practice into national labour law

The refusal by an employer to bargain collectively in good faith with the recognized trade union was listed as an unfair practice. Whilst on its face this provision might seem to have amounted to a major breakthrough in collective bargaining law in India, it does not appear to be regarded as particularly important by Indian labour law scholars, perhaps principally because it has had little impact in practice. As far as individual dismissals are concerned, a 1965 amendment to the Industrial Disputes Act created a right in an individual employee to notify an industrial dispute over his or her discharge, dismissal, retrenchment or other form of termination, whether or not that person was represented by a trade union. A subsequent amendment, in 1971, empowered the Industrial Tribunals and the Labour Court to investigate the dismissal of employees, and make appropriate orders, including reinstatement and compensation, where the dismissal was found to be unfair. As a consequence of these legal changes, the Labour Court and other tribunals developed a general broad discretion to review the dismissal of workers and to award relief according to notions of substantive and procedural injustice. Overall, then, the post-Independence period was, at least at the level of the individual worker in the regulated sector, clearly a period of important consolidation in employment protection. Not only the Central government, but also several of the State governments, played an important role in this development Trade Unionism In India Today Unions today have no specific trend or pattern; unionization varies from industry to industry and state to state; collective bargaining is mostly seen at industry level in sectors like steel and coal;;plant level bargaining existed at organizations such as BHEL, HMT, etc. Private sector industries have been discouraging formation of unions and collective bargaining has been restricted at plant level;multi-union rivalry and competition among different trade unions have restricted power base of unions; Collective bargaining in industries such as jute, tea, coal, banking takes place at industry level; However, in several public sector industries unions were formed at plant level also for bargaining purposes; Private sector esp. enterprises with multinational origins had plant level unions which were discouraged form forming federations with other unions, either in region or plant of the same company; Compared to this there is hardly any unionization at all in medium or small scale sector; if present at all they are small, divided and weak, and unable to stand upto management, either in bargaining or other spheres;

Union membership is declining even in most developed countries such as in US and UK and even in Japan; Indian Trade Union membership has remained stagnant, and its activities have been more or less confined to organized sector and particularly, public sector enterprises from where most of its membership comes; unorganized workforce has still remained out of focus; Trade union membership in India account for no more than 2 percent of Indian workforce; TU in India account for 70,000 registered unions and unaccountable number of unregistered organizations Managerial Trade Unionism Unions in executive cadre includes civil services, doctors, electricity board, bank officers, merchant navy officers etc. In private sector officers association exist in Grasim, ITC, Glaxo etc. Most of them are registered under Societies Registration Act, 1860 Trade union cooperation and consultative machinery Non-statutory (Permanent) At Central Level: Indian Labour Conference. Standing Labour Commitee, Central Implementation And Evaluation Committee, Central Committee On Labour Research, Central Board For Workers Education, Special Tripartite Committees, Committee On Conventions

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