Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
• Definitions
• History (In India)
• Features
• Objectives
• Functions
• Structure
• Problems
HISTORY
• Development of modern industry, especially in
the Western countries, can be traced back to
the 18th century. Industrial development in India
on Western lines, however commenced from the
middle of the 19th century. The first organised
Trade Union in India named as the Madras
Labour Union was formed in the year 1918.
Since then a large number of unions sprang up
in almost all the industrial centres of the country.
Similarly, entrepreneurs also formed their
organisations to protect their interests.
DEFINATION
• Trade Unions are the groups set-up with the aim
of trying to create fairness and job security in a
workplace.
• Section 2(h) of the Trade Union Act,1926 has
define a trade union as:
“Any combination, whether temporary or
permanent, former primarily for the purpose of
regulating the relation between workman and
workmen or between employers, or for imposing
restrictive conditions on the conduct of any trade
or business, and includes any federation of two
or more trade unions.
Features of trade unions:
I. It is an organisation formed by employees or
workers.
II. It is formed on a continuous basis. It is a
permanent body and not a casual or temporary one.
III. It is formed to protect and promote all kinds of
interests –economic, political and social-of its
members. The dominant interest with which a union
is concerned is, however, economic.
IV. It includes federations of trade unions also.
V. It achieves its objectives through collective
action and group effort.
What are trade unions?
• Trade unions are organisations that represent people at work. Their
purpose is to protect and improve people's pay and conditions of
employment. They also campaign for laws and policies which will
benefit working people.
• Trade unions exist because an individual worker has very little power
to influence decisions that are made about his or her job. By joining
together with other workers, there is more chance of having a voice
and influence.
• All sorts of jobs and industries are covered by trade unions. Some
unions represent people who do a particular job or work in a specific
industry - for example, the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), as its
name suggests, represents journalists, and the Union for Finance Staff
(UNIFI) is made up of people who do different jobs in the financial
sector.
• Other unions include a mixture of people in different jobs and sectors.
The biggest unions in Britain - the GMB, UNISON and the Transport
and General Workers Union (TGWU) represent people working in a
range of different occupations and industries in the public and private
sectors. Often this is because unions have merged with other unions
so that they can increase their membership and their influence.
What do unions do?
• The main service a union provides for its
members is negotiation and
representation. There are other benefits
people get from being members of trade
unions.
• Negotiation
• Representation
• Information and advice
• Member services
Negotiation
Negotiation is where union representatives discuss with
management issues which affect people working in an organisation.
The union finds out the members' views and relays these views to
management. There may be a difference of opinion between
management and union members. 'Negotiation' is about finding a
solution to these differences. This process is also known as
'collective bargaining'.
In many workplaces there is a formal agreement between the union
and the company which states that the union has the right to
negotiate with the employer. In these organisations, unions are said
to be 'recognised' for 'collective bargaining' purposes.
Pay, working hours, holidays and changes to working practices are
the sorts of issues that are negotiated. People who work in
organisations where unions are recognised are better paid and are
less likely to be made redundant than people who work in
organisations where unions are not recognised.
Representation
Trade unions also represent individual members when they
have a problem at work. If an employee feels they are being
unfairly treated, he or she can ask the union representative to
help sort out the difficulty with the manager or employer.
If the problem cannot be resolved amicably, the matter may go
to an industrial tribunal. Industrial tribunals make sure that
employment laws are properly adhered to by employees and
employers. They are made up of people outside the workplace
who listen to the employer's and the employee's point of view
and then make a judgement about the case. People can ask
their union to represent them at industrial tribunals. Most cases
that go to industrial tribunals are about pay, unfair dismissal,
redundancy or discrimination at work.
Unions also offer their members legal representation. Normally
this is to help people get financial compensation for work-
related injuries or to assist people who have to take their
employer to court
Information and advice
•Intra-mural activities
•Extra-mural activitie
•Political activities.
Why do workers join unions
• Greater Bargaining Power
• Makes their voice heard
• Minimise discrimination
• Sense of security
• Sense of Participation
• Sense of Belongingness
Reasons Why Employees Join
Unions
• Protection
• Social pressure
• Compulsion
• Political beliefs
• Solidarity
• Tradition
• Pay and conditions
• Communication
• Health and safety
CRITICISM OF TRADE UNION BY
EMPLOYERS
• Lack of education
• May not welcome change
• Strick on Illogical basis
• Creation of Artificical scanity of labour
• Undue demands relating to wages
Type of Union Description / Example
2. Revolutionary unions
• Political unions
• Anarchist unions
STRUCTURE OF TRADE UNIONS
• Plant level Federations
• Local level Federations
• Regional Level Federations
• National Level Federations
Unions structure diagram
• Union Members
• Shop Stewards (Union
Representatives)
• Branches District and Regional Offices
• National Office
• Trade unions are democratic organisations which are
accountable to their members for their policies and
actions. Unions are normally modelled on the following
structure:
• Members - people who pay a subscription to belong to a
union
• Shop stewards - sometimes called union representatives
- who are elected by members of the union to represent
them to management
• Branches - which support union members in different
organisations locally. There is usually a branch secretary
who is elected by local members
• District and/or regional offices - these are usually staffed
by full time union officials. These are people who are
paid to offer advice and support to union members
locally
• A national office - the union's headquarters which offers
support to union members and negotiates or campaigns
for improvements to their working conditions. At the top
of the organisation there is usually a General Secretary
and a National Executive Committee, elected by the
union's members.
TRADE UNIONS ACT
1926
• Trade Unions Act, 1926 provides for the
registration of the Trade Unions with the
Registrars of Trade Unions of their territory. Any
seven or more members of a trade union by
submitting their names to the registrar of trade
unions and otherwise complying with the
provisions of the Act with respect to registration
may apply for the registration of the Trade Union
under the Trade Unions Act. The Act gives
protection to registered trade unions in certain
cases against civil and criminal action.
• AIBOC - All India Bank Officers Confederation
• AISGEF - All India State Government Employees
Federation
• Center of Indian Trade Unions - Major trade union
• Hind Mazdoor Sabha - Membership, objectives and
trade union situation
• Indian National Trade Union Congress - History,
aims, objectives and activities
• NCOA - National Confederation of Officer's
Association of Central Publid Sector Undertakings
• Organized Labour - Article on role of organized
labour and trade unions in economic liberalization
• PWTUC - Professional Workers Trade Union Centre
of India
• Trade Union India - Trade union international of
public and allied employees
Four important central organisations of workers in India are