TRADE UNION

MOVEMENT IN INDIA
Labour movement and Trade Union movement are often
used synonymously. But labour movement, which includes
trade unionism, is a wider term. Labour movement began
in 1875 in India while the trade unionism started in 1918
A TRADE UNION IS A CONTINUOUS ASSOCIATION OF WAGE-
EARNERS FOR THE PURPOSE OF MAINTAINING OR IMPROVING THE
CONDITIONS OF THEIR WORKING LIVES DALE YODER (1972)

According to the Indian Trade Union Act, 1926

a trade union is any combination, whether
temporary or permanent, formed primarily for
the purpose of regulating the relations
between workmen and employers, or between
workmen and workmen, between employers
and employers, or for imposing restrictive
conditions on the conduct of any trade or
business, and includes any federations of two
or more trade unions
A trade union is not for workers but by
workers
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE
TRADE UNION MOVEMENT
Dufty (1961) has given four eras:1. Pre-1920
(before the formation of AITUC);2. the inter-
war period from 1920 to 1939;3. the Second
World War period from 1937 to 1946; and 4.
Post-Independence period from 1947- to date
Kumar (1961) has divided the development
into four periods: 1. Early beginning (1875-
1918); the inter-war period(1918-1938);
Second World War period (1939-1945); and
the post-World War period (1946 onwards)
MONAPPA (1985) HAS GIVEN THREE PHASES. THE FIRST
PHASE FALLS BETWEEN 1850 TO 1900; THE SECOND
BETWEEN 1900 TO 1947; AND THE THIRD FROM 1947
ONWARDS
Mamoria, Mamoria and Gankar (1997) has divided
this period in terms of the tendencies that mark
the growth and development of trade union
movement in India:
1. The Social Welfare Period from 1875 to1918
2. Early Trade Union Period from 1918 to 1924
3. Left-Wing Trade Union Period from 1924-1934
4. Trade Unions Unity Period from 1935 to 1938
5. Second World War Period from 1939 to 1945
6. Post- Independence Period from 1947 to-date
1. THE SOCIAL WELFARE PERIOD
(1875-1918)
Development of industries resumted in
several social evils such as employment
and exploitation of women and child
labour.
Deplorable working conditions and the
Governments total indifference in respect
of protection of labours from such evils
were visible
In certain respects, conditions of Indian
factories labour were worse than in the
early factories in England
 THE WORKERS, WHO WERE FOR THE MOST PART THE
VILLAGERS, ENDEAVOURED TO IMPROVE THEIR LOT BY
WORKING IN THE FACTORIES. THEY WERE SUBMISSIVE AND
UNORGANIZED
At this juncture Indian humanitarians, like
Shorabjee Shapurji Bengali (1875) and N.M.
Lokhanday (1984), who were themselves factory
workers drew attention of the Government
towards deplorable conditions in the factories and
demanded an early legislation to protect the
interest of the labours
At the same time, the Lancashire interests too
forced the British Govt. to restrict the
employment of women and child labour in Indian
industries, not on any humanitarian basis, but on
the ground of their own protection from cheap
Indian goods
 ACCORDINGLY THE INDIAN FACTORIES ACT WAS PASSED IN 1881,
AND THEN AMENDED IN 1891 AND 1911, WHICH SUGGESTED
SHORTER WORKING HOURS AND CONDITIONS OF WORK FOR
CHILDREN AND WOMEN

The Factory Commission in 1875, the Factories

Act 1881, the investigation of Meade Moore
(1874), the Second Bombay Factory Commission
(1884), the workers meeting organized in
Bombay in 1884, and the mass meeting in
Bombay on April 21, 1890 which was attended
by about 10,000 workers and the submission to
the Govt of a memorial signed by about 17,000
workers were the important events
The memorial demanded: (i) a complete day of
rest every Saturday; (ii) half an hours rest at
noon;
(III) WORKING HOURS NO LONGER THAN 6:30 PM AT SUNSET; (IV) THE
PAYMENT OF WAGES NOT LATER THAN THE 15TH OF EVERY MONTH;
AND (V) PAYMENT TO INJURED WORKERS AND COMPENSATION UNTIL
THEY RECOVERED

The mill owners agreed to grant a weekly

holiday to workers
Encouraged by this success Lokhanday formed
Bombay Millhands Association in 1890 with the
purpose to provide a clearing house for the
grievances of mill workers and to draw public
attention to the cause of labour
This was the first union in India and Lokhanday
, who also published the Dinbandhu, a working
class newspaper, earned the title of being the
first trade unionist of India
SEVERAL OTHER UNIONS SUCH AS THE AMALGAMATED
SOCIETY OF RAILWAY SERVANTS OF INDIA AND BURMA, THE
PRINTERS UNION OF CALCUTTA, THE BOMBAY POSTAL
UNION, ETC WERE STARTED LATER

The objective of these associations were to

promote welfare activities, spread literacy
among the factory workers and redress
grievances through peaceful and
constitutional methods. As such they were
not trade unions but associations
Between 1904 and 1911, there was a
remarkable advance in the organization of
the labour movement. A strike in Bombay
Mills, a series of strikes in the railways
(especially in the Eastern Bengal Railways),
in the railway workshop, and in the Govt
press in Calcutta occurred prominently
 A REMARKABLE EVENT OF 6-DAY POLITICAL STRIKE IN
BOMBAY IN 1908 AGAINST THE SENTENCE OF 6-YEARS
IMPRISONMENT OF LOKMANYA B.G. TILAK FOR OFFENCE
OF SEDITION
This strike highlighted the beginning of the political
consciousness of the workers, which was affected by
the political scenario of that time, e.g. the partition
of Bengal and the Swadeshi movement of 1905
The most noticeable features of 1875 to 1918 were:
1. Complete absence of radicalism in the labour
movement. The methods used were of petition,
memorials and seeking redress of grievances
2. The movement depended greatly on external
philanthropy with the motto of sympathy rather than
justice; it became a movement for the worker and
not by the worker
 3. MOST OF THE ORGANIZATIONS WERE UNSTABLE AND OF
LOOSE TYPE, AS THEY LACKED DEFINITE AIMS AND
OBJECTIVES; ONCE THE GRIEVANE WAS SETTLED THE
ORGANIZATION WOULD DISBAND ITSELF
4. There was little conception of permanent trade
union membership or organized collective bargaining
5. The movement developed mostly among the
educated class of workers such as the postal clerks
and the railway employees
6. The early leadership was provided by three types
of persons: first, intellectuals such as lawyers,
reformers, editors, teachers and preachers; second,
the careerists, who used the movement to serve
their own ends; and third, the politicians and
nationalists like B. P. Wadia, M. Vararadarajulu
Naidu, B. Shiv Tao, Annie Besant, and B.G. Tilak
2. EARLY TRADE UNION PERIOD
(1918-1924)
The year 1918 was an important one for the
Indian trade union movement. It was due to:
(i) The industrial unrest that grew up as a
result of grave economic difficulties created
by the World War I. The rising cost of living
prompted the workers to demand reasonable
wages by resorting to collective action
(ii) The Swaraj movement intensified the
demand for racial equality with the Britishers
(III) THE SUCCESS OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION OF 1917
CREATED A REVOLUTIONARY WAVE AND CLASS-
CONSCIOUSNESS

(iv)The establishment of the I. L. O. in 1919,

gave dignity to the working class and a also
to send a delegation in its annual conference
(v) Immediately after the war many Indian
soldiers (who previously belonged to the
working class) in the British army were
demobilized and forced into labour market.
They saw the stark difference with the
British workers. By 1920 a genuine
proletariat thus emerged in India
(VI)THE NON-COOPERATION MOVEMENT BY M. K. GANDHI
DURING 1920-1921 INFLUENCED THE TRADE UNIONISM

During this time many unions were formed

but the Madras Textile Union was the first
union in the modern sense. It was formed
in 1918 by B. P. Wadia. Three factors were
responsible for its formation:
(i) Extremely short interval for mid-day
meal
(ii) Frequent assaults on workers by the
European assistants, and
(iii) Inadequate wages in the face of rapidly
rising prices
THIS UNION ADOPTED COLLECTIVE BARGAINING
AND USED TRADE UNIONISM AS A WEAPON FOR
CLASS-STRUGGLE
The union was successful in getting the mid-day
interval extended to an hour
A co-operative and a library were opened for the
general upliftment of the workers. Altogether 17
new unions were formed during 1917-1919.
In 1920, a Spinners Union as well as a Weavers
Union were formed at Ahmedabad at the
initiative of Mahatma Gandhi. In the same year
the Textile Labour Association was also formed by
Gandhiji, which adopted the idealogy of Truth
and Non-violence as its means to get the
demands fulfilled
 ON OCTOBER 30, 1920 REPRESENTATIVES OF
64 TRADE UNIONS WITH A MEMBERSHIP OF
140,854 MET IN BOMBAY
This Meeting resulted in the formation of All
India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) under the
chairmanship of Lala Lajpat Rai. It had the
support of all National leaders
Within a short-time the total number of unions
affiliated to AITUC rose to 125 with a
membership of 2.5 lakhs
It is estimated that between 2.5 and 5 lakh
workers were organized into trade union at
this time. After 1919 trade unionism spread to
centers other than Madras, Ahmedabad and
Bombay
 THE WORKERS ORGANIZATIONS SPRANG
MAINLY IN JUTE AND COTTON TEXTILES, IN
THE RAILWAYS AND IN TRANSPORT SECTOR
3. Left-Wing Unionism Period (1924-1934)
In 1924 a violent and long-drawn-out strike by
unions led to the arrest, prosecution, conviction
and imprisonment of many communist leaders
This led to the emergence of left-wing trade unions
By 1927 the left united 57 unions with a
membership of 155,555. The factors that helped
left-wing unions:
(i) The growth of anti-imperialist national
movement
(ii) The brutal violence such as Jalianwala Bagh
firing
 (III) PHENOMENAL PROFITS EARNED BY
THE CAPITALISTS
By 1926-1927 workers and peasants parties
sprang up and in 1928 an All India Workers and
Peasants Party was formed
Many trade unions opted for left-wing
membership, which resulted in a large number of
strikes. In 1928, the total number of lost man-days
rose to 316 lakhs
The Communists organized the cotton mill workers
of Bombay into Girni Kamgar Union (Left flag) and
the workers of the G.I.P. Railways into GIP
Railwaymens Union. These two unions had the
membership of 54,000 and 45,000 workers
respectively
 THE LEFTISTS DEMANDED THAT THE AITUC BE
AFFILIATED TO THE THIRD INTERNATIONAL
(THE LEAGUE AGAINST IMPERIALISM-MOSCOW)
The Rightists preferred its affiliation to the
International Federation of Trade Unions,
Amsterdam
Moderates under the leadership of N. M. Joshi
and the representatives of 24 unions seceded
from the AITUC saying that the control and
direction of the new majority in the Executive
Council will be fundamentally opposed to the
genuine interests of the working class. They
formed a separate union- the All India Trade
Union Federation (AITUF)
 THIS SPLIT REDUCED THE STRENGTH OF AITUC FROM
51 AFFILIATED UNIONS WITH A MEMBERSHIP OF 9
LAKHS TO 21 UNIONS WITH A MEMBERSHIP OF 94,000
In 1931 another rift occurred in AITUC at the
Calcutta session due to fundamental differences
between the communists and the left wing
unionists.
The Communists led by B. T. Randive and S. V.
Deshpande formed the Red Trade Union Congress
Thus at the beginning of the thirties, there were
three unions (i) the AITUC, led by the militant
nationalists; (ii) the AITUF, led by the Congress
nationalists and moderates; and (iii) the RUTC,
consisting of orthodox communists which
wanted a dictatorship of the proletariat
4. TRADE UNIONS UNITY PERIOD
(1935-1938)
The initiative for unity of trade unions was
taken by the All-India Railwaymens
Federation by forming a Trade Union Unity
Committee in 1932, which adopted the
following platform of unity:
A trade union is an organ of class-struggle;
its basic task is to organise the workers for
advancing and defending their rights and
interests. Negotiations, representations and
other methods of collective bargaining must
remain an integral part of the trade union
activities
 THE FINAL DECISION WAS TAKEN IN DELHI IN
1933, WHEN NATIONAL FEDERATION OF LABOUR
(NFL) WAS FORMED TO FACILITATE UNITY
The AITUF and the railway unions amalgamated
themselves with the NFL under the name of the
National Trade Union Federation (NTUF)
The AITUC and the RTUC were however aloof
The division in the Indian labour was proving
very costly for the Indian working class. In
1933, more than 50,000 workers in Bombay
were thrown out of job. By 1934 almost every
mill in Bombay reduced wages substantially
The total man-days lost in 1934 were 47.7 lakhs
as against 21.7 lakhs in 1933
 IN 1935, THE RTUC WAS MERGED INTO
THE AITUC
The unity efforts of trade unions were
synchronised by a popular upheaval of 1937
general elections
The Indian National Congress approached the
workers with the pledge that it would
endeavour: To secure to the industrial
workers a decent standard of living, hours of
work and conditions of labour in conformity, as
far as economic conditions of the country
permit, with the international standards,
suitable machinery for the settlement of the
disputes between employers and workmen
 AS A RESULT OF THIS ALLURING MANIFESTO,
THE CONGRESS WON THE ELECTIONS IN 7
STATES AND A BIG CHANGE OCCURRED
There was a new upsurge of industrial unrest. In the
year 1937, there occurred 379 strikes which involved
6.47 lakh workers, with a loss of 89.82 lakh man-days
The number of trade unions increased from 271 in
1936-1937 to 562 in 1938-1939 and membership rose
from 2.61 lakhs to 3.99 lakhs
Through the efforts of V. V. Giri the path of unity was
paved in 1938 in Nagpur when the AITUC accepted
the conditions of merger as laid down by the NTUF
Thus, after 9 years of split trade unions unity
emerged and AITUC again became the sole
representative of the organised labour class