TRADE UNION

y A Trade Union is a continuous association of

wage-earners for the purpose of maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment. y A trade union is an organization that employees can join in order to have their interests and goals better represented.

Do employers also need trade unions?????

y mechanism to deal with employees at large y bringing about any kind of changes y Securing maximum cooperation from workers

Objectives
(1)Steady employment (2)Rationalisation of personnel policies (3)Voice in decisions affecting workers (4)Recognition and participation (5)Gaining legislative enactments (6)Miscellaneous Services

What do trade unions do

y Negotiation y Representation y Information and

advice y Member services

CONCERNS
y Wages y Working conditions y Job security y Welfare activities

WHAT IS TRADE UNION

y A trade union is an organised group of workers. Its main goal is to protect and advance the interests of its members y A union often negotiates agreements with employers on pay and conditions. It may also provide legal and financial advice, sickness benefits and education facilities to its members y Trade unions aim to represent the interests of people at work and negotiate with employers for better terms and conditions for their members

Types of industrial action that can be taken by trade unions:

y Strike y Work to rule y Go slow y Picketing y Overtime ban

Theories of Trade Union Movement

y Karl Marx: Classless society approach y Trade unions are natural outcomes of capitalism and

can be used to destroy capitalist class.

y Sydney and Beatrice Webb : Socialist pattern y TU s are means to achieve industrial democracy in

which worker is given say in running industry. Only political democracy will not do. y Freedom of association,opportunity etc.

Robert Hoxie : Social- Psychological approach

y Difference of environment causes different unions to develop.He identifies 4 types y i. Business Unionsm: trade conscious , collective bargaining usage -reliance on strike, improvement in working conditions and ages. y Ii.Friendly or uplift Unionsm: to elevate the moral, Intellectual and social life of the worker by cooperative societies,mutual insurance etc. y Iii.Revolutionary Unionism : class conscious, reject private ownership and condemn wage system, violent means such as strike , sabotage, boycotts used.

y Mahatma Gandhi : Trusteeship y To increase wealth using one s talent and deploying surplus wealth in public causes. y To increase employees internal strength , to work conscientiously and to take from the employer no more than what is rightfully due to laborers.

FUNCTION OF TRADE UNION

y To secure for workers better wages y To safeguard security of tenure and improve conditions of service y To increase opportunities for promotion and training y To improve working and living condition y To provide for educational cultural and recreational facilities y To promote identity of interests of the workers y To offer improved level of production and productivity discipline and

high standard of quality

y To promote individual and collective welfare

Trade Union Structures

CRAFT UNION
 Formed of workers belonging to the same craft,occupation or specialization irrespective of the industry in which they are employed.  E.g. Indian Pilot s guild.  Electricians though working in different industries may form a union of electricians only  Discuss Merits and Demerits

..

INDUSTRIAL UNION :
y Organized on the basis of an industry rather than a craft y All the workers-skilled,semi-skilled and unskilled engaged in a particular industry organize y E.g y Labor force of a cotton textile factory decides to form a union of workers of different crafts y Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sabha,Tata workers Union

GENERAL UNION Membership may cover workers employed in many industries , employments and crafts E.G The Jamshedpur Labour Union,whose membership includes workers engaged in different industries and crafts of Jamshedpur

Classification according to agreement

y 1. CLOSED SHOP y Agreement with the union that a worker must be the

member of the union at the time of employment and continuos to do so in order to retain his job else services are terminated. y Closed to non-unionists y Employers freedom to recruit is limited

2. UNION SHOP
 Agreement with the union that a worker would become a member of the union within a specified period of his securing employment and would continue his membership to retain his job.  Employer free to recruit

y OPEN SHOP y Membership in a union is in no way compulsory either

before or after employment

y AGENCY SHOP : y When an employee who is not a union member has to

pay the union a sum equal to subscription

MAINTENANCE SHOP : y Where an employee, on choosing to become a member of a union, is obligated to continue his membership of that union throughout his tenure of employment with that employer

STRUCTURE OF TRADE UNION IN INDIA

Names and details of some Unions in India

All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)

Origin: It was established in 1920 as result of a resolution passed by the organized workers of Bombay and the delegates which met I a conference on 31st October, 1920. Objectives:
y to establish a socialist state in India; y to socialize and nationalize means of production, distribution and exchange; y to improve the economic and social conditions of the working class; y to watch, promote, and further the interests, rights, and privileges of the workers in all

matters relating to their employment;

y to secure and maintain for the workers the freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom

of association freedom of assembly, the right to strike, and the right to work and maintenance;

y to co-ordinate the activities of the labour unions affiliated to the AITUC; y to abolish political or economic advantage based on caste, creed, community, race or

religion;

y to secure and maintain for the workers the right to strike

The Indian National Trade Union Congress

Origin: The INTUC came into existence on 4th May, 1948, as a result of the resolution passed on 17th November 1947, by the Central Board of the Hindustan Mazdoor Sevak Sangh, which was a labour leader on the Gandhian Philosophy of Sarvodaya Objectives:
y To establish an order of society which is free from hindrances to an all-round

development of its individual members, which fosters the growth of human personality in all its aspects, and which goes to the utmost limit in progressively eliminating social, political or economic exploitation and inequality, the profit motive in the economic activity and organization of society and the anti-social concentration of power in any form;

y to place industry under national ownership and control in a suitable form; y to secure increasing association of workers in the administration of industry and their

full participation in that control;

United Trade Union Congress (UTUC)

Origin: Some trade union leaders of the socialist bent met together December 1948 to form a new central organization of labour, called Hind Mazdoor Sabha Objectives:
y The objectives of the UTUC are: y to establish a socialist society in India; y to establish a workers and peasants state in India; y to nationalize and socialize the means of production, distribution and exchange; y to safeguard and promote the interests, rights, and privileges to the workers in all

matters, social, cultural, economic and political;

y to secure and maintain workers freedom of speech, freedom of press, freedom of

association, freedom of assembly, right to strike, right to work or maintenance and the right to social security;

y to bring about unity in the trade union movement.

Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS)

Origin: This union has been the outcome of decision taken by the Jana Sangh in its Convention at Bhopal on 23rd July, 1954. Objectives: y to establish the Bhartiya order of classless society in which there shall be secured full employment;
y to assist workers in organizing themselves in trade unions as medium of service to the

motherland irrespective of faiths and political affinities;

y the right to strike; y to inculcate in the minds of the workers the spirit of service, co-operation and

dutifulness and develop in them a sense of responsibility towards the nation in general and the industry in particular. triple formula:

y The BMS is a productivity-oriented non-political trade union. Its ideological basis is the y nationalize the labour; y labourise the industry; y industrialize the nation;

National Front of Indian Trade Unions (NFITU)

Origin This union was founded in 1967, with the claim that this trade union of India is not controlled by any of the political party, employers or government. Objectives:
y to organize and unite trade unions with the object of building up a National Central

Organisation of trade unions, independent of political parties, employers and the government, to further the cause of labour and that of national solidarity security and defence of India, and to make the working people conscious of their right as well as of obligations in all spheres of life; representation of interests of workers and to ensure for the working people fair conditions of life and service and progressively to raise their social, economic and cultural state and conditions; workers;

y to secure to members of trade unions full facilities of recognition and effective

y to help in every possible way member trade unions in their fight to raise real wages of the y to endeavour to secure for members of affiliated trade unions adoption of progressive

legislation for their welfare and to ensure the effective environment of the rights and interests of members of affiliated trade unions and for the working people in general.

Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU)

Origin This union was formed in 1970 when as a result of the rift in the AITUC, some members of the Communist party seceded. About the objectives of the CITU, its constitution says: Objectives:
y The CITU believes that the exploitation of the working class can be ended only by

socializing all means of production, distribution and exchange and establishing a socialist state, that is, it stands for the complete emancipation of the society from all exploitation. workers and the enlargement of their rights and liberties including the right to strike, for winning, defending and extending the freedom of the democratic trade union movement. nationalization of all foreign monopoly concerns who barbarously exploit the working class; (b) nationalization of all concerns owned by Indian monopolists and big industry who garner huge profits at the expenses of the workers, who exploit the people by pegging prices at a high level and who dictate the anti-labour and anti-people policies of the government.

y The CITU fights against all encroachments on the economic and social rights of the

y In the fight for the immediate interest of the working class the CITU demands: (a)

y The CITU fights against the repressive policy of the government towards the democratic

and trade union movement;

WHAT IS TRADE UNION MOVEMENT

y The trade union movement started after 1918, when the workers formed their

associations to improve their conditions. It is, thus, a part of the labour movement, which is a much wide term

y A trade union is an essential basis of a labour movement for without which one

cannot exist, because trade unions are the principal schools in which the workers learn the lesson of self-reliance and solidarity system

y Trade Unionism in India has been the natural out come of the modern factory y The main elements in the development of trade unions of workers in every

country have been more or less the same

y The development of trade unionism in India has had a checkered history and a

stormy career

PROCEDURE OF REGISTRATION OF TRADE UNION

y At least 7 members should be present for an application y It should in a prescribed form ,fees and should be registered under

the Registrar of Trade Unions

y Should be accompanied by a copy of the Rules of TU y Certificate of Registration is issued as soon as TU has been duely

registered under the Act

CONCLUSION
y Trade Union is an important factor of the current

society, as it safeguards the basic interest and needs of both the employees as well as employers, by giving better terms and conditions of employment, secured jobs, better wages, favorable working environment which in turn leads to desired profitability.