A large number of registered trade unions in our country ¾ well over 30 per cent ¾ remain outside the existing Central Trade Union Organisations (CTUOs). The reason for this is the fact that unions in India are divided among these various national centres on the basis of ideology, where most of these centres are controlled by political parties. This division in the movement along party lines and the domination and control by parties have caused considerable damage to trade union unity as well as to working class power.

Unions and Parties

Before 1947, there was practically only one CTUO – the AITUC. A major split in the movement took place in 1947 when a breakaway group belonging to the Congress Party left the AITUC and founded the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC). Thereafter, Socialists and Royists formed the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) in 1948. The United Trade Union Congress (UTUC) was formed by Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) activists in 1949. The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) was founded by the activists of the Jan Sangh in 1955. The INTUC split in 1971 when the Textile Labour Association of Ahmadabad and some other unions formed yet another federation, the National Labour Organisation (NLO). In 1971, because of a split in the Communist Party, the CPI (M) leadership took the initiative to break away from the AITUC to form the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). A number of organisations have come up at the national level, namely HMKP, UTUC (Lenin Sarani), the National Front of Indian Trade Unions (NFITU) and the Trade Union Co-ordination Centre (TUCC). Today, we have more then 12 national trade union centres and many industry-wise federations representing various categories of employees. The emergence of regional parties in India from the 1960s has also resulted in the formation of various regional trade union federations under the control of different regional parties.

Of the unaffiliated unions, a large number of them were earlier affiliated with the AITUC, INTUC, UTUC, CITU, HMS, and other major federations but later remained outside these federations precisely due to the increasing domination by political parties of the centres. Each split in the major CTUOs has compelled many unions to remain independent and many breakaway leaders continue to remain independent from politically controlled centres.

There are three major categories in the unaffiliated unions. First, there are many autonomous independent unions functioning democratically outside the influence of political parties and free from employers and governments. These unions have secured major gains through their struggle and established better norms and labour standards in various industries in our country. Second, there are a large number of employer-supported unions acting as rivals to militant unions in various industries units. Some cases of employer-sponsored unions in new establishments or units are precisely meant to guarantee settlements that are purely beneficial to employers. These categories of unions were initially formed in new industrial areas. The unions in the Thane-Belapur area near Mumbai in the 1960s are classical examples of such unions. However, the very same unions revolted against the employers towards the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s. Third, many powerful unionists left established trade union centres and remain leaders of various autonomous trade unions. These unions have also contributed significantly to developing norms and standards beneficial to workers.

Unions and Militancy

The Indian trade union movement has seen, from the beginning, both militant unions as well as unions which discourage workers from taking any militant action. Unions from both these categories have been part of CTUOs or chosen to stay out of them. The history of the Indian trade union movement, however, vividly shows that trade unions emerged out of massive militant struggles. When the first session of the AITUC was held in Bombay in 1920, there were 60 unions affiliated to it with 42 others supporting it. (A.R. Desai and Sunil Dighe, eds., Labour Movement in India: 1928-1930 Volume 6. p39) By 1925, the trade union movement had grown commendably. There were 8 federations and 167 trade and labour unions.

The struggle of the Indian working class during 1920-1924 compelled the British to introduce the Indian Trade Union Act and finally put it into force in 1927 to regularise and control the unions. Up to the end of 1929, 87 unions were registered with 1,83,000 members but these were only a  minority of the then existing unions. (Whitely Report 1931)

Union Membership and Strength

Membership figures for unions outside the ambit of Central Trade Unions prior to Indian Independence are difficult to find. Available are figures that show registered unions and figures of unions submitting returns and their membership. The membership figures for those unions not submitting returns to the Registrar of Trade Unions as well as the unions that are not registered are unavailable.

However, a close look at the available records from 1947-48 onward reveals that the proportion of registered unions that are not submitting returns is increasing. In 1947-48 there were 2,766 registered unions, of which only 1620 unions were submitting returns. By 2000, the number of registered unions has increased to 65,286, of which the unions submitting returns numbered only 7,224.

Whereas the number of unions and union membership has grown significantly since the enactment of the Indian Trade Union Act in 1926 and since Independence, the proportion of registered unions not submitting returns has increased. The average membership of unions has fallen from 3,594 in 1927-28 to 780 in the year 2000. In 1927-28, there were 29 registered unions of which 28 were submitting returns.

The phenomenal growth of trade unions has also seen many such unions not submitting returns and the average membership of the unions coming down substantially. The disunity in the trade union movement ¾ locally, regionally and nationally ¾ has had an impact not only on the increase in the number of unions but also on the fall of average membership of these unions.

Attacks on Labour and Responses

In spite of the total strength of the union movement, employers have been able to take offensive steps against unions and launch attacks against the working class, especially after the 1980s.

TThe liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation, initiated under the New Economic Policy of the Government of India (GoI) have brought many changes in labour policies and practices. Hard-earned labour rights are under attack, and unions are faced with new practices which cannot be resisted effectively by individual unions. Employers are on the offensive to crush the union movement. Union bashing, victimisation, job lessees, industrial closures and so on are mounting. Employers continually violate core labour standards, and the labour machinery of the government and the judiciary actively support such attacks on labour.

Such situations compel workers and their unions to forge objectively established working class power to resist these changes. It is important to bring together all of them. This cannot be achieved easily, but unaffiliated unions can play a major role if they come together and form a critical mass of unions.

Among the unaffiliated unions, the autonomous militant unions are currently under severe attack. The pressure on such unions has forced them to initiate a process towards unification. These unions have formed a new national federation, not as a rival to existing ones, but as a unifying initiative to conduct struggles and work together on common issues, establishing unity at the unit/local, industry levels and then to move on to the national level. This process, initiated by the New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI), is based the principle of freeing unions from political parties, governments and employers. The NTUI stands for unity, democracy and militancy in the trade union movement. Hitherto unaffiliated unions are brought together to play a major role – a role that they can play given their experience, commitment, and objective compulsions. Such a union will not remain on the fringe, but will be potentially powerful.