Introduction

Before the emergence of industrialization on a massive scale, there were personal contracts between
workers and employers. Therefore, no requirement for the evolution of any machinery governing the
relationship between workers and employers arose until then. But after the establishment of the
modern factory system, this relationship lost its significance due to large-scale industrialization, which
enticed employers to reduce the cost of production in order to withstand the cut-throat competition
in the market and maximise their profit by using technologically more sophisticated means of
production. This in turn resulted in the rise of a new class of workers who were completely dependent
on wages for their survival, which changed the existing employer-and-employee relationship in which
the employees were exploited by their employers. The conflict of interest between workers and
employers and the distress of workers resulted in the growth of various trade unions. A trade union is
an organised group of workers who strive to help the workers on issues relating to the fairness of pay,
good working environment, hours of work, and other benefits that they should be entitled to instead
of their labour. They act as a link between the management and the workers. In spite of being newly
originated institutions, they have turned into a powerful force because of their direct influence on the
social and economic lives of the workers. To control and manage the work of these trade unions,
different legislation regulating the same is required. In India, the Trade Unions Act of 1926 is a principal
Act for controlling and managing the work of trade unions. The present article aims at explaining and
bringing forth various aspects of the Act.

History of trade unionism in India

In India, trade unions have developed into an important platform for putting up with the demands of
workers. They have also turned into one of the most influential pressure groups, which is an aggregate
seeking to influence the government in framing legislation in favour of workers without aspiring to
become part of the government. As an organised institution, trade unionism took its concrete shape
after the end of World War 1. The trade unions in India are essentially the product of modern large-
scale industrialization and did not grow out of any existing institutions in society. The need for an
organised trade union was first realised in 1875 by various philanthropists and social workers like Shri
Sorabji Shapurji Bengali and Shri N.M. Lokhandey, whose constant efforts resulted in the formation of
trade unions like the Printers’ Union of Calcutta (1905) and the Bombay Postal Union (1907).

The setting up of textile and mill industries at the beginning of the 19th century in the presidency
towns of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta gave impetus to the formation of industrial workforce
associations in India. The Bombay Mill-Hands Association, founded by N.M. Lokhande in 1890, was the
first labour association in India. The following years saw the rise and growth of several other labour
associations and unions in India, like the Madras Labour Union, which was the first properly registered
trade union founded by B.P. Wadia in the year 1918. In the year 1920, the country saw the growth of
the Ahmedabad Textile Labourer’s Association in Gujarat, which turned into a union under the
guidance of Mahatma Gandhi and was considered to be one of the strongest unions in the country at
that time because of the unique method of arbitration and conciliation it had devised to settle the
grievances of the workers with the employers. Since the union followed the ideals of truth and
nonviolence laid down by Mahatma Gandhi, it was able to secure justice for the workers in a peaceful
manner without harming the harmony in society. In the same year, the first trade union federation,
the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), saw the light of day. It was formed after the observations
made by the International Labour Organisation which highlighted the influence of politics on trade
unions and associations and how the same is detrimental to any economy’s ability to prosper.
The importance of the formation of an organised trade union was realised by nationalist leaders like
Mahatma Gandhi, who, to improve the employer and worker relationship, introduced the concept of
trusteeship, which envisaged the cooperation of the workers and employers. According to the concept,
the people who are financially sound should hold the property not only to make such use of the
property as will be beneficial to themselves but should make such use of the property as is for the
welfare of the workers who are financially not well placed in society, and each worker should think of
himself as being a trustee of other workers and strive to safeguard the interests of the other workers.

Many commissions also emphasised the formation of trade unions in India for eg. the Royal
Commission on labour or Whitley commission on labour which was set up in the year 1929-30
recommended that the problems created by modern industrialization in India are similar to the
problems it created elsewhere in the world and the only solution left is the formation of strong trade
unions to alleviate the labours from their miserable condition and exploitation.

Development of Trade Union Law in India

Labour legislation in India has a key impact on the development of industrial relations. The
establishment of social justice has been the principle of all labour legislation in India. The
establishment of the International Labour Organisation to uplift the condition of labour all over the
world gave further impetus to the need for well-framed labour legislation in the country. Several other
internal factors like the Swaraj movement of 1921-24, the Royal Commission on Labour also paved the
way for various labour laws and also encouraged the framers of the constitution to incorporate such
laws in the constitution which will benefit the labourers. Under the Constitution of India, labour is the
subject of the concurrent list and both the centre and the state can make laws related to the subject.
The different labour laws in the country are as follows:

The Apprentices Act, 1961: The object of the Act was the promotion of new manpower at skills and
the improvement and refinement of old skills through practical and theoretical training.

The Contract Labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970: The object of the Act was the regulation of
employment of contract labour along with its abolition in certain circumstances.

The Employees’ Provident Funds and Misc. Provision Act, 1952: The Act regulated the payment of
wages to the employees and also guaranteed them social security.

The Factories Act, 1948: The Act aimed at ensuring the health of the workers who were engaged in
certain specified employments.

The Minimum wages Act, 1948: The Act aimed at fixing minimum rates of wages in certain occupations.

The Trade Union Act, 1926: The Act provided for the registration of trade unions and defined the laws
relating to registered trade unions.

THE REASONS THAT HINDERED GWOTH OF TRADE

UNION MOVEMENT IN INDIA
1. Limited Membership:
From the very beginning trade unions in India can enlist only a small fraction of work force of the
industrial sector as its member. In 1963-64, membership of the trade unions in India was limited to
only 50 per cent of the total workers in mines and 40 per cent in plantations. Even today, the
membership of the trade unions in India is far below as compared to that of around 90 per cent in
countries like U.K., U.S.A. etc.

2. Small-sized Unions:
In India, the number of small sized unions has been increasing at a fast rate. In India, there are more
than 45 thousand registered trade unions and about three-fourth of the unions have a membership of
less than 500. This has weakened the base of the movement and therefore these unions are not in a
position to run collective bargaining negotiations properly. Another important feature of the Indian
trade unionism is the multiplicity of trade unions. Multiple unions are the result of political outsiders
wanting to establish their hold, with a view to increasing their political influence and establish their
own unions.

Existence of different conflicting and rival organisations the divergent political view, is greatly
responsible for in adequate and unhealthy development of unionism. Within a single organisation, we
may come across a number of groups having different type of persons and different types of views. It
develops small unions.

Inter union and intra union rivalry undermines the strength and solidarity of the workers in many ways
such as:

(i) A single union represents a very small number of workers and therefore does not enjoy the
confidence of most of the employees.

(ii) These small unions assume only a limited range of functions instead of diverting members’ energy
to some constructive and cooperative channels they have to encouraged strike, disloyalty and non-
cooperation.

(iii) Most of the unions fail to realise the importance of labour welfare activities and mutual help. This
character of trade unionism has cut the root of the unionism, weakens the power of collective
bargaining, and reduced the effectiveness of workers in security their legitimate rights.

Theoretically each trade union follows the path of democracy and has register of members, holds
elections, maintains accounts etc. Practically there are leaders who behave like autocrats, rig elections
and employ other means of capturing power. This leads of intra union rivalry. If a leader of a group is
defeated in election, it may challenge the results before the Labour Court of a higher court and try to
obtain an injunction for preventing the elected group to function or the other course open to it is to
form a new union, thus splitting the existing union.

3- Poor Finances:
The financial condition of the trade unions in India is not at all sound. Due to limited membership, the
fund raising capacity of these unions is very limited. Due to scarcity of fund, these unions still failed to
engage full-time officials for conducting regular works such as organisation, research and negotiations
and also failed to undertake social welfare schemes. Another major defect of the trade union
movement in India is that its leadership is in the hand of professional politician. But experience
suggests that the performance of the union would be best if leadership comes from the workers itself
instead of outside leadership.

4-Outside Leadership
Leadership from within their own ranks can serve interests of the workers as they possess complete
knowledge about the condition of working class. The secret of the success or the trade union
movement in England is that they have always selected their leader from within their rank. But
unfortunately, in India trade unions are having their leaders mostly from outside who are again
professional politicians. These outsiders are generally political leaders and serve their political masters
and not the workers. They want to hold the union with a view to maximise their individual standing as
political leader. Moreover, direct contact with rank and file and top leaders is missing because the
leaders are to pay attention to a number of unions. Because of the ignorance of the workers immediate
pressing needs, they fail to put the workers’ case effectively.

5. Political Affiliation
Trade unions in India are mostly having political affiliations. Political affiliations have led to rivalries
among the unions which ultimately jeopardies the interest of the workers in general. Accordingly,
sometimes policies and actions of some major trade unions have been finalised with non-union
considerations. Politicisation of the Unions:

POLITICAL INFLUENCE
One of the biggest problems which the trade union movement in India faces is the influence of the
political parties. Multiplicity of the trade unions in India is traceable to the domination and control of
trade union movement by rival political parties, which led to the inter union rivalry. This character
promoted the trade unions to become tools of political parties to serve their political aims.

From the very beginning, the trade union movement has its allegiance with political parties. The main
reasons of the politicization of trade union movement lie in their being illiterate, ignorant and
backward workers were not in a position to take upon themselves the task of organisation. There was
a wide social gulf between them and the employers and managers and other officers.

They were afraid of the employers, managers, police and the government. In this situation, they
needed some outside assistance to get over their initial feelings of fear and nervousness and to learn
the rudiments of agitation and organisation. Some eminent public men social workers and political
leaders came forward to their assistance.

7. The Problem of Recognition of Trade Unions:

The one of the basic issues in our industrial relation system is problem of recognition of trade unions.
The attitude of the management was callous and it was under no obligation to give recognition to any
union which can negotiate with it. The situation is more or less the same in the present day industrial
scenario.

The employers many a time refuse to recognise a trade union on the pretext that it does not represent
the majority of workers or there are already two or more unions in the plant. These are not valid
grounds for refusing recognition because it is their own concern to unite all employees with common
interests in a single union and not the concern of the employers.

6. Neglect of Beneficent Activities:

Trade unions in India have failed to improve the loyalty of workers, Trade unions are very much
concentrated with organising strikes or collective bargaining but they have ignored the beneficial
activities such as provision of medical and sickness relief, help to widows or dependents, educational
and cultural activities, recreation etc. Trade union movement in India has also failed to improve the
nature and quality of workers.

7-INEFFICIENCY
Inefficiency in the working of the trade unions has resulted from illiteracy and ignorance of the
workers, migratory character of the workers, differences between workers in respect of language,
caste, creed and customs, their low wage level and low capacity to pay subscriptions etc.

8. LACK OF WORK CULTURE:Trade unions in India have mostly failed to develop work
culture, which is very much important for the growth of the industry, in general. Lack of sincerity,
devotion, interest, etc. towards their normal duty is very much rampant among the workers of the
country.