The base year for the recent general verification of the membership of the Central Trade Unions verification is 2002 and the notification was issued in November 2003. The Chief Labour Commissioner, the authority responsible for conducting the verification, received reports from the Regional Labour Commissioners (Central), following a scrutiny of the annual returns, with respect to memberships, of 18,000 trade unions.

Labour File spoke to Mr. S.K. Mukhopadhyaya, Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) on the subject.

Why is trade union membership verified?

The Indian Labour Conference (ILC), the apex of all tripartite mechanisms, and the Standing Labour Committee (SLC) were set up in 1942 with the objective of promoting uniformity in labour legislation and of formulating a procedure for the settlement of industrial disputes, as well as to discuss all matters of all-India importance between employers and employees. Both the bodies are non-statutory, advisory bodies with flexible procedures. In the 15^th ILC of 1957, a decision was taken to verify trade union membership.

The decision to undertake regular verification was taken with the view of giving representation to the trade unions on various international and national conferences, (including those by the International Labour Organisation) committees, councils, wage boards, etc. The general verification determines the relative strength of Central Trade Unions. The strength of a central trade union organisation (CTUO) is taken to be the combined membership of all the registered unions affiliated to the Central Trade Unions.

The verification is to be undertaken once in four years. The last verification results, with the date of reckoning as 31 December 1989, were declared by the Ministry of Labour in 1996. The date of reckoning for the recent verification, for which only provisional results are available, was 31 December 2002. Since there were disputes raised regarding the date of reckoning, the final decision was taken in compliance with an order by the High Court of Delhi, dated 25 July 2003. Thirteen CTUOs have filed the membership claims of about 42 million workers through 18,168 affiliated unions.

What are the criteria for a trade union being designated as a Central Trade Union?

Trade union organisations whose affiliated unions have a combined membership of at least five lakhs and are spread over at least four states and four industries are eligible to be recognised by the government as CTUOs.

What does the process of verification entail?

There is no central law guiding verification. The process is based on a Code of Discipline agreed upon in 1957 by the ILC.

There are four types of verification:

i) General verification

ii) Verification under the Code of Discipline

iii) Statutory verification in Banks

iv) Ad-hoc verification in major ports (Port Trust and Dock Labour Boards)

The relative strength of a CTUO is decided through general verification. As stated earlier, the strength of the CTUO is taken to be the combined membership of trade unions registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926, and of those that are affiliated to the concerned CTUOs. The verification of a union is conducted only after the organisation meets the membership criteria of a Central Trade Union.

The Chief Labour Commissioner (Central) [CLC(C)] is the key person responsible for conducting the verification process.

The target for completing the verification process, after the date of its notification inviting membership claims, is 3 to 4 years. Generally, the date of notification is 31 December.

CTUOs have to file their claims in the prescribed Performa within three months of the notification. To facilitate the application of other unions that are not in the list, but that claim to be Central Trade Unions, a notice is published in the newspapers as well.

Based on the annual returns filed with the Registrar of Unions, the Central Trade Unions have to furnish all the details in the prescribed format.

What are the general procedures for verification?

Trade unions are given three chances to produce the documents mentioned in the claims. After the issuance of every notice, a time of 21 days is given to them to produce the documents. The notices are sent by hand or through registered post, with acknowledgement, to the headquarters and the state committee offices of all Central Trade Unions.

The verification of records is done by checking membership registers, receipt books containing counter foils of receipts for membership subscription/or certificate of deduction of subscription obtained from the employees, and the constitution of union audited statement of accounts, registration certificate, affiliate certificates and copy of the annual returns along with proof of submission. The sample for record verification will be 15 per cent of the claimed membership.

In the case of those units that could not maintain records due to lockouts, closure or strikes, the annual returns submitted to the Registrar of Unions for the relevant year will be accepted as the basis for verification.

Besides these, spot verification is also done.

What happens if there is an objection raised regarding membership?

The CLC scrutinises the claims submitted by the trade unions to ensure that the membership numbers furnished are in prescribed form and that the annexures requested are attached. The records of all the unions, listed as affiliates by the CTUOs, are verified with the office of the Registrar of Unions.

Later, a copy of the membership claims of each union is circulated to all other CTUOs. Three months’ time is given to all of them for raising objections, if any, in writing, highlighting the specific objections. All the objections raised will be verified by the CLC, through the regional labour commissioners.

What types of objections raised by the CTUOs are taken into consideration?

We do not entertain any vague objections raised by the unions. There are four major types of objections that are generally entertained/raised.

1. On the status of registration

The date of reckoning serves as the criteria on the basis of which this objection is raised. The union should be registered with the Registrar of Unions on or before the date of reckoning. CTUOs can raise objections, pointing out the status as not registered during the date of reckoning.

2. On affiliation

Here again, the date of reckoning is the criteria for deciding the affiliation. A union should be affiliated to the CTUO on or before the date of reckoning; if proved otherwise, it will be omitted from the process.

3. On annual returns

All unions are supposed to file their annual returns to the Registrar of Unions at the closing of the financial year. After the date of reckoning, we give the unions two chances to file their returns. In spite of the notices sent to them, if they do not file the returns within three months of the notification, the claim of the union will be rejected.

4. On membership inflation

Ninety-five per cent of the objections raised by the CTUOs are about bogus or inflated membership. Such objections will be entertained only if the inflation is pinpointed union-wise.

Can the verification of membership be made through secret ballot?

At present there is no national law for the recognition of trade unions through secret ballot. There is a procedure for conducting the verification of membership in the Madhya Pradesh Industrial Relations Act and the Bombay Industrial Relations Act. Under these, secret ballot can be one of the methods for verification of membership of the trade unions for the purpose of recognition. In Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, secret ballot is being used as one of the means for verification of membership for the purpose of recognition by an administrative arrangement. Taking recourse to secret ballot as one of the methods for verification of the membership is left to the labour courts in Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.

What type of verification is done under the Code of Discipline?

The verification of the membership of unions is undertaken to determine the relative strength of unions operating in those establishments that fall within the purview of the central government, under the code of discipline and through secret ballot for conferring recognition on the majority union for a period of two years as approved by the Standing Labour Committee in its 19th Session held in April 1961.

Why is there a need for statutory verification in Banks?

Based on the request from Ministry of Finance (Banking Division), the organisation of the CLC(C) conducts membership verification of the unions operating in various nationalised banks to appoint the workmen’s Director on the Board of Directors. The verification is conducted as per the procedure laid down in the nationalised Banks (Management and Misc.) Scheme, 1970, and the Subsidiary Banks (Appointment of Employees’ Directors) Rules, 1974.

What is the purpose of the ad-hoc verification that takes place in Port Trust and Dock Labour Boards?

The Ministry of Surface Transport requested for the verification of the membership of unions operating in major Port Trust and Dock Labour Boards. It was undertaken to determine the relative strength of unions for the purpose of allocation of Labour seats on the Port Trust/Dock Labour Boards for a period of two years.