TRADE UNIONS (UNIT-6)

Industrial Democracy (1st edn 1897;9th edn 1926) is a book written by

British socialist reformers Sidney Webb and Beatrice Webb, concerning the
organisation of trade unions and collective bargaining. The book
introduced the term industrial democracy to the social sciences, which has
since gained a different meaning in modern industrial relations.

Industrial Democracy was published in 1897, three years after the Webbs
published History of Trade Unionism, an account of the roots and
development of the British trade union movement.

According to YODER a trade union is a continuing long term association

of employees formed and maintained for the specific purpose of protecting
and advancing the interest of members in their working relationships.

Definition of trade union talks about three relationships. They are

relationship between the: Workmen and workmen Workmen and employers
Employers and employers.

OBJECTIVES OF TRADE UNION:-

Ensuring rights to workers

Securing economic interests of workers
Participating in management
Ensuring welfare of workers and their families
Contributing to national development

REASONS FOR JOINING UNIONS:-

Greater bargaining power
Sense of security
Negotiation of wages and working conditions
Satisfaction of employee
Gain power

TYPES OF TRADE UNION

There are four main types of trade unions.
i. Craft unions:

These represent workers with particular skills e.g. plumbers and weavers. These
workers may be employed in a number of industries. They are quite small in size.
Examples are Singareni Collieries engineering workers union , affiliated to HIND
MAZDOOR SABHA, and the navigators union of AIR INDIA are examples of craft
union.

ii. General unions:

These unions include workers with a range of skills and from a range of
industries. JAMSHEDPUR LABOUR UNION and THE NATIONAL UNION OF
MUNCIPAL and GENERAL WORKERS are the example of general unions.

iii. Industrial unions:

These seek to represent all the workers in a particular industry, for instance,
those in the rail industry. The TEXTILE LABOUR ASSOCIATION AHMEDABAD ia
one of the most famous industrial union in India. The STEEL EMPLOYEES TRADE
UNION (SETU) affiliated to CITU is another example.

iv. White collar unions:

These unions represent particular professions, including pilots and teachers.
Unions in a country, often belong to a national union organisation. For example,
in India, a number of unions belong to the All India Trade Union Congress
(AITUC). ALL INDIA BANK OFFICERS ASSOCIATION and THE AIRPORT
AUTHORITY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION (INDIA) are the examples of these types of
unions.

STRUCTURE OF TRADE UNIONS:-

Plant level Unions:

The first level in the structure from below is the plant levelunion. This
comprises the unions in one organisation or factory. Please note thatonly
 seven members are required to form a union. This has lead to
multipleunions in one factory. (We will discuss the details of this aspect in
the problemsfaced by unions in India).II.
Local Level federations.
This is the second level in the structure from below.The local trade union
federation holds together the plant level unions at the locallevel in a
particular craft and industry. These local level federations might
beaffiliated to either some regional level or national level federation or
these may beindependent.III.
Regional level federations.
These are the organisations of all the constituentunions in a particular
state or region.The importance of such federations cannot be exaggerated.
In a country like India,conditions vary form region to region. The style of
living, languages, customs,traditions, conditions, etc. are different.
Therefore, it is better that workers areorganised at regional or state
level.These regional federations may have members of two kinds:(1) The
plant level unions affiliating themselves to these directly and(2) The local
federations.
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In the second case, plant level unions become the members of regional
federationindirectly through the local federations.It may be noted that the
regional federations may be independent or they may getaffiliated to some
national federation.IV.
National federations.
These are national level bodies to which plant levelunions, local unions or
regional level unions may get affiliated. These are theapex bodies at the top
of the structure. They act as coordinating bodies. Thesenational
federations may have their own regional or state level coordinating bodies
to which the plant level unions may get affiliated.Let us summarise the
levels in a diagrammatic form.
National Level FederationsRegional Level FederationsLocal Level FederationsPlant
Level Federations