Trade Unions in Service Sector

Group 9 Ramavtar Meena Rashik Gupta Sarthak Agarwal Shailesh Kumar Shibashish Behera Shishir Kumar Kisan Shreya Bhatnagar Vinay L

PGP27315 PGP27316 PGP27317 PGP27318 PGP27319 PGP27320 PGP27321 PGP27330

Trade Unions
A combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily for the purpose of regulating the relations between workmen and employers or between workmen and workmen, or between employers and employers, or for imposing restrictive condition on the conduct of any trade or business

2/27/2012

Group 9

Government Regulations
Trade Unions Act, 1926 deals with registration, rights, liabilities, responsibilities and fund utilization of trade unions Industrial disputes act, 1947 is applicable to the companies with more than 100 employees Provisions of factories act, 1948 Apart from this there are more than 55 central labor laws and 100 state labor law
2/27/2012 Group 9 3

Objectives of Trade Unions

Negotiating machinery
Working Conditions Wages

Discipline Employee employer relationship Platform for participation in management Prevent employee discrimination

2/27/2012

Group 9

Types of Unions
Craft Union: Unify workers in a particular industry along the lines of craft or trade that they work in by class or skill level. Industrial Unions: All workers in the same industry are organised into the same union regardless of skill and trade. General Union: Represent workers from many unions or companies. White-Collar Union: Union of white collar employees. Blue-Collar Union: Union of blue collar employees. Closed Union: Union with restricted membership to a certain defined category of employees. Open Union: Union with limited restrictions on workers that can join.
Group 9 5

2/27/2012

Levels of Participation
National Level

Regional Level

Local Level

Organization Level

2/27/2012

Group 9

Case Examples

2/27/2012

Group 9

Life Insurance Corporation of India

National Federation of Insurance Field Workers of India (NFIFWI) National Level Union representing 21000 development officers of LIC Non-political in nature

2/27/2012

Group 9

Objectives of NFIFWI
To foster a spirit of co-operation and comradeship among members To secure improvement of working and living conditions of its members To safeguard the interest of members by all legitimate, peaceful and democratic means To represent its members in front of management and government To conduct trade disputes on behalf of its members To prepare members to play a legitimate role in their national, social and cultural life To secure equality of rights and prevent discrimination among employees To develop healthy relationship between employees and employers To foster a spirit of service to policy-holders To compensate member or members for loss arising out of trade disputes To develop ways and means for spread of insurance education
2/27/2012 Group 9 9

Constituent Structure
NFIFWI

Central Federation

Zonal Association

Branch Association

Divisional Association

Federal Council Central Secretariat

National Executive Office Bearers

Zonal Council

Zonal Executive Council

Office Bearers

Divisional Council

Divisional Executive Council

Office Bearers

2/27/2012

Group 9

10

Issues Faced by Union

Recognition of NFIFWI Improvements in GOIB(Graded Impact on Incentive Bonus) scheme
Performance Linked Lump-sum Incentive, previously a part of cost for calculation of Incentive Bonus, removed after negotiations by NFIFWI with the management

Seeking an offline option to compulsory online Test for agents Demanding a wage hike of 40% while management is offering 17.5% Demands to Personnel Department
Third option for Development officers who have not opted for pension Grant of full pension for employees with 20 years service Payment of Marketing expenses, Grooming expenses, special area allowance

Favorable Result
The management increased the Group Insurance to Rs. 8 lakhs and also increased the housing loan to Rs.13 Lakhs and also granted second loan
2/27/2012 Group 9 11

INDIAN RAILWAYS
World s fourth largest rail network Having workforce of 14 lakhs regular employees and 3 lakhs casual employees make it world s second largest employer Having trace of 114,500 K.M. and 7500 stations

Organizational Structure
Divided into 17 railway zones
Each zone headed by General Manager (GM)

Zones further divided into 68 divisions

Each division is headed by Divisional Railway Manager (DRM)

Divisions further divided into stations

Each station is controlled by station Superidendent

2/27/2012

Group 9

13

Organizational Structure
Indian Railways

Gazetted Employees

Non-Gazetted Employees

Group A

Group B

Group C (60000 employees)

Group D (80000 employees)

Selection through Indian Civil Service Examination conducted by UPSC

2/27/2012 Group 9

Selection through 19 Railway Recruitment Boards

14

Trade Union in Indian railways

Group A & Group B:
Federation of Railway officers associations (FROA)

Group C & Group D:

National Federation of Indian Railway men established in 1953
Affiliated to International Transport Worker s Federation (ITF) and International Labour Organization (ILO)

All India Railway men s Federations established in 1924

These unions are affiliated with trade union like Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) Each union has its functional units at board, zonal and divisional level Office bearers are elected by members of the trade unions Elections are conducted by the unions and they inform names of the office bearer to the respective units of the railways
2/27/2012 Group 9 15

Industrial Relations
Divisional level industrial relations are handled by a director level officer Zonal level industrial relations are handled by a chief personal officer at joint secretary level of IRPS cadre Board level IR issues are handled by member staff of Railway board along with other principal secretary level officer of IRPS cadre Permanent Negotiation machinery (PNM)
To maintain contact with trade unions Six PNM to be conducted at divisional level with each trade union in a year Four PNM to be conducted with each trade union at zonal level in a year Two PNM to be conducted at Railway Board level in a year

Participation of Railway Employee in Management (PREM)

Meeting held between management and trade unions at all levels of the organization Agenda - Management takes employee s views on issues regarding operations
2/27/2012 Group 9 16

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

Conglomeration of several Trade Unions
NFTE BSNLEU BTEU

FNTO

SNATTA

BDPA

SNEA TEPU AIBSNLEA

The Main Unions in BSNL are:

1. BSNL Employees' Union (EU, CITU) 2. Federation of National Telecom Organisation (FNTO, INTUC) 3. National Federation of Telecom Employees (NFTE, sympathetic to AITUC) 4. Bharatiya Telecom Employees' Union (BTEU, BMS) 5. National Council of 10 other BSNL employees' unions. A Joint Consultative Machinery exists at all levels (district, area, circle, national). The agenda of the committees are all matters pertaining to policies, operations, human resources. Meetings are bi-monthly at circle level and quarterly at national level.

The main issues for telecom employees of BSNL are:

1. Privatisation of BSNL 2. Wage settlements 3. Employment security and job reservations

2/27/2012

Group 9

18

BSNL Employees Union (BSNL EU)

AFFILIATION: The Union is affiliated to Centre for Indian Trade
Unions (CITU), the Central Trade Union

CIRCLE WISE: AP, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Kerala Karnataka, WB, Punjab & Orissa ORGANISATION: The structure of the union shall be unitary in
character. For the administration of the affairs of the union, it shall function through the following bodies :
   
2/27/2012

Central Head quarters (CHQ) Circle Head Quarters Divisional / District Branch Local Branch
Group 9 19

 AIMS & OBJECTIVES:

 To organize and unite the persons employed in BSNL  Oriented Trade Union movement amongst the BSNL workers aimed at effective and efficient organization for prosperity and progress  To promote social, cultural, educational and economic upliftment of the members  To safe guard and promote interests, rights and liberties of members through peaceful bilateral settlement of problems  To seek permanent solution of outstanding problems and promote healthy industrial relations in services without any class consideration

GRANT OF RECOGNITION:
 Recognition for Circle will be granted by CHQ  Recognition for District (SSA) and local branch will be granted by Circle or CHQ.
2/27/2012 Group 9 20

 Problems Encountered
 Multiplicity of unions leading to lower membership per union and subsequent financial hiccups  Constant switching of alliances leading to increased agitation among workers
    1st verification: Independent unions 2nd verification: EU & FNTO against NFTE & BMS 3rd verification: EU & FNTO split 4th verification: EU against FNTO & NFTE

 Differences over promotion, absorption of daily wagers, contract employees, pensioners  CITU and AITUC are partners in the Left alliance nationally but split in BSNL

2/27/2012

Group 9

21

SBI Staff Association

Offices
Headquarter: Kolkatta Branches: West Bengal, Assam, Orissa, The North-Eastern States, Bihar, Orissa, UP, Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Uttaranchal etc.

Objectives
To protect and promote the interests of all members by legitimate and constitutional means Proper representation of the employees on the Board of Directors. Provide funds for relief, compensation or legal assistance for distressed employees. To work in co-operation with other trade unions to work towards an objective that is inconsistent with the spirit of Indian Trade Union Act, 1926
2/27/2012 Group 9 22

Structure
Centre
Gen Council

Circle
Circle Gen Council

Unit
Unit Committee

Central Committee

Circle Committee

Executive Committee Disciplinary Action Committee Grievance Committee

Executive Committee Disciplinary Action Committee Grievance Committee

2/27/2012

Group 9

23

SBI Staff Association

Prime Roles
Presidents Secretaries Treasurers Honorary Chairman and MD of SBISA Co-Op Bank

Election Process
Democratic Process Lower level committee elects the higher level committee Elect members of some of the same level committees.
2/27/2012 Group 9 24

Roles and Responsibilities

Presidents:
Watchful eye over the general affairs of the union Along with the secretaries they are to address the concerns of lower hierarchy level s concerns.

Secretaries
Look after the affairs of the union from his level Co-ordinate between other committees in his level and the ones under him Scrutinize the books and accounts of all the committees under him.

Treasurers
Handling the accounts of the union from their level Submission of account reports to council and committees He shall grant receipts and countersign vouchers, bills or orders for payment of money
2/27/2012 Group 9 25

Association's success
Grievance Redressal System of SBI
The Scheme for Grievance Redressal System (GRS) has been framed under Section 43 of the State Bank of India Act, 1955 The system is in place to address the grievances of individual employees

IR & Recognition of Unions (SBI)

Guided by Code of Discipline in Industry , crafted in the 15th session of the tripartite Indian Labor Conference Sets the guidelines for recognition of unions and grievance addressal procedure for the unions.

2/27/2012

Group 9

26

Aviation Sector
Spurred by the labor dispute in Jet Airlines in 2008 Continued strikes hit the service sector badly Jet lost about Rs 400 crore in a 5 day strike This incident was followed by Air India strike of 4 days: lost about Rs 100 crore So country s 2500 pilots along with other employees decided to have a trade union
2/27/2012 Group 9 27

Trade Unions
National Aviation Company of India Ltd (Nacil) is represented by three unions:
Aviation Industries Employees Guild (AIEG) Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) Indian Pilots Guild (IPG): over 25000 employees are part of this

Kingfisher, Spicejet,IndiGo and GoAir do not have any union at any level but have welfare associations They all are affiliated to AITUC (All India Trade Union Congress; formed in 1920)
2/27/2012 Group 9 28

Structure of AIEG
Pilot Representative Cabin Crew Representative Airport Employees Representative In June 2011, 10 unions representing the different sections of the employees of Air India, including, pilots, aircraft technicians, ground staff and cabin crew, Aircraft Engineers, Radio officers and Flight officers, Service Engineers as well as the officers came together at Mumbai and decided to form the Core Committee of Joint Forum of Air India and Indian Airlines
2/27/2012 Group 9 29

Electoral process
Chief Holding positions: (Union and regional)
President Secretary Assistant Secretary Treasurer

Democratic: Members cast their votes on predecided dates

Issues dealt with

Salary: Non-payment of PLI which accounted for 50-80% of salary Delay in salary payment: major role during no pay no work agitation by Air India employees Integration of employees : when Indian Airlines and Air India merged in 2007 Encourage other private airlines to become a part of the union

2/27/2012

Group 9

31

Problems faced by trade unions

Political influence Fragmented Structure
Multiple unions Unstable relationship Power struggle can lead to violence

Illiteracy and lack of training Lack of interest Narrow support and coverage
More than 90% of workforce in unorganised sector

Exploitation on basis of caste or religion

2/27/2012 Group 9 32

Recommendations
One union per organization Develop internal leadership Recognition from top management Train employees regarding importance of unions Paid Union Officials
2/27/2012 Group 9 33

Thank You

2/27/2012

Group 9

34