INDIAN RAILWAY TRADE UNIONS.

A Project on Human Resource Management.

Project submitted to- Ms. Brishni Borkotoky.

byChakraborty (29)

Project submitted Sangita Shobhit Tiwari (31) Sukanya Dhar (35)

Acknowledgement.
We would like to express our special thanks and gratitude to our Faculty incharge, Ms. Brishni Borkotoky, who gave us this opportunity to work on this project on the topic of Trade Union, which indeed helped us in gaining more information about the topic, boost our confidence, enhance our capabilities of negotiation and give us a broader prospective of the practical corporate & the management world. We would also like to thank our parents and other group members of this project, who helped us a lot in the completion of this project in all possible ways. Last but not the least; we would like to beg pardon for any unintentional faults that might have occurred during the making of this project work.

Trade Union- An Introduction.

A trade union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as higher pay, increasing the number employees an employer hires, and better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts (collective bargaining) with employers. The most common, but by no means only, purpose of these organizations is maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. This may include the negotiation of wages, work rules, complaint procedures, rules governing hiring, firing and promotion of workers, benefits, workplace safety and policies. The agreements negotiated by the union leaders are binding on the rank and file members and the employer and in some cases on other non-member workers. Originating in Europe, trade unions became popular in many countries during the Industrial Revolution, when the lack of skill necessary to perform most jobs shifted employment bargaining power almost completely to the employers' side, causing many workers to be mistreated and underpaid. Trade union organizations may be composed of individual workers, professionals, past workers, students, apprentices and/or the unemployed. In India the Trade Union movement is generally divided on political lines. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, trade unions had a combined membership of 24,601,589 in 2002. As of 2008, there are 11 Central Trade Union Organizations (CTUO) recognized by the Ministry of Labour.

Indian Railways- An Introduction.

Indian Railways (reporting mark IR) is an Indian state-owned railway company headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is owned and operated by the Government of India through the Ministry of Railways. Indian Railways has 114,500 kilometres (71,147 mi).[4] of total track over a route of 65,000 kilometres (40,389 mi)[4] and 7,500 stations. It has the world's fourth largest railway network after those of the United States, Russia and China.[5] The railways carry over 30 million passengers and 2.8 million tons of freight daily. [4]In 2011-2012 Railway earnt Rs 104278.79 crores which consists of Rs 69675.97 crores from freight and 28645.52 crores from passengers tickets. [6] It is the world's fourth largest commercial or utility employer, by number of employees, with over 1.4 million employees.[4] As for rolling stock, IR owns over 240,000 (freight) wagons, 60,000 coaches and 9,000 locomotives.[4] Railways were first introduced to India in 1853. By 1947, the year of India's independence, there were forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems (many of which were already government-owned) were nationalized as one unit, the Indian Railways, becoming one of the largest networks in the world. IR operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, metre and narrow gauges.

Indian Railway Trade Union.

Railway Trade unions functions in all levels of Railway organization- Railway Board, zones, divisions, units. Recognized Trade unions have been given some privileges. There are basically two recognized Trade Unions of the Indian Railways. They are: 1. The All India Railwaymens Federation (AIRF). History- During the last part of the 19th Century, Railwaymen were inspired by the ongoing freedom struggle. There were several strikes in the railway workshops during that period and in the early part of the 20th Century. After the formation of All India Trade Union Congress, the trade union leaders who were spearheading the freedom struggle and were active in the railway trade union movement, in 1924, formed the All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF), consisting of the Railwaymens unions working on the different railways. Description- The AIRF is affiliated to the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS). AIRF is a free, democratic and independent organization. Out of 1.5 million railway workers, 1.1 million are members of the AIRF. It has affiliated unions on all the 16 Zonal Railways and Production Units and the MTP Railway. As opposed to the popular belief that trade unions sole aim is to organize strikes, demonstrations, dharnas, AIRF and its affiliates have been doing social service through several non-bargaining activities like health check and blood and eye donation camps, sports activities and prize distribution for the children of railway employees, organizing drug and alcohol de-addiction, AIDS awareness and family planning camps and providing relief to the victims of natural calamities etc., taking regular coaching classes for children of railway employees and also running computer classes and educational institutions including an Engineering College. The AIRF is concerned about safety on Indian

Railways and has been organizing seminars and meetings, educating the cadre on safety in railway working.

2. The National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR). About- National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR) is affiliated to Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and International Transport workers Federation (ITF). Mission- On the day of 16 th May, 1953, the NFIR took birth and treaded through the travesty of Railway Labour Movement and consolidated the unity among Railwaymen. This was possible only through the sacrifices and relentless efforts put forth during those times by the legendary stalwarts and leaders, who believed in Gandhian ideals of constructive Trade Unionism. Description- NFIRs Central Office at New Delhi is thrust upon tremendous volume of work during this decade. This is due to the fact that the number of new affiliated Unions has increased consequent upon creation of New Zones. The volume of work dealt by the Central Office has sizeably increased and the staff needed to attend to this voluminous work is proportionately less. However, the Office with available infrastructure has been successful in handling the increased workload with good efforts.

Unions affiliated under AIRF & NFIR:

There are 17 Unions affiliated to All India Railwaymens Federation. The Union of the North-East Indian Railway is known as the North-East Frontier Railway Mazdoor Union (N.F.R.M.U). And there are also 17 Unions affiliated to National Federation of Indian Railwaymen. The Union of the NorthEast Indian Railway is known as the North-East Frontier Railway Employees Union (N.F.R.E.U).

Conclusion.
The primary goal of this project was to learn about the trade union practices in one of the largest industry in the world & in our country, India. Hence, it can be certainly culminated that trade unions are formed for the purpose of regulating the relations between the working class people & the managing group, and also for the smooth running of any organization. The Indian Railway Trade Union has also been successful enough to prove the benefits of trade union by fulfilling all the conditions of an ideal union system. To conclude with the words of Clarence Seward Darrow, who quoted, With all their faults, trade unions have done more for humanity than any other organization of men that ever existed. They have done more for decency, for honesty, for education, for the betterment of the race, for the developing of character in man, than any other association of men.