Trade unions play an important role in protecting workers' interests and resolving issues between employees and employers. The document discusses the history and growth of trade unions in various sectors of the Indian economy such as railways and information technology. While trade union membership has increased in sectors like mining and manufacturing, growth has been uneven in other industries like services. In the IT sector specifically, unions are now emerging to address concerns around job losses and demands for better work conditions and pay. Overall, the document examines the role and impact of trade unions across different Indian industries.

1. Trade Union in Service sector
Presented by
Sasi Vignesh

2. Trade Unions
According to Trade Union act 1926"Trade Union" means any
combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily
for the purpose of regulating the relations between workmen and
employers or between workmen and workmen, or between
employers and employers, or for imposing restrictive conditions on
the conduct of any trade or business
Their primary function is to protect the interests of workers against discrimination
and unfair labor practices.

3. Purpose of Trade Unions
Employment Protection and Job Creation.
Economic Protection.
Social Status & Identity.
Democratic Institution
Transformation.
Sustainable Development.

4. Specific function of Trade UnionsSpecific Functions of Trade Union
• Wage & salary bargaining
• Fight for continuous improvement in employee
benefits
• Improving working conditions at work place
• Improving welfare, healthcare & recreation
facilities, and leisure at workplace
• Increasing rest periods, holidays, paid leave and
time-offs

5. • Representation
• Negotiation
• Voice in decision affecting members
Member services which include:
a) Education and training.
b) Legal assistance.
c) Financial discount.
d) Welfare benefits.
Objectives of Trade Union

6. Social Responsibilities of Trade Unions
 Promoting and maintaining national integration by
reducing the number of industrial disputes
 Incorporating a sense of corporate social
responsibility in workers
 Achieving industrial peace

7. Uneven Growth of Unionism
Mining 51%
Coal Industry 61%
Tobacco 75%
Cotton Textile 56%
Iron and Steel 63%
Insurance 33%
Railway 3%
Plantation 28%
Service Sector
Abhishek and Neetu, J Account Mark 2013, 2:1 http://dx.doi.or/10.4172/2168-9601.1000104

8.  One of the cause of uneven growth of unionism is slow growth
 The unions brought about some economic, political and social betterment of
the workers.
 Economically, they have improved the lot of the workers.
 Politically, the unionism has produced a mighty secular anti-imperialist, anti-
capitalist, equalitarian and socialistic force of national economy.
 Trade unionism has not influenced a variety of industries.
 The degree of unionization varies widely from industry to industry.
Uneven Growth of Unionism

13. Trade Union in Indian
Railways

14. First Trade Union in IR
• The first employees organization in IR was formed
in 1897 under the name of Amalgamated Society of
Railway Servants of India and Burma.
• Employees of the Indian Railways joined these
Unions. But these Unions were not successful in
getting their demands fulfilled.

15. Present Federations in IR
• All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF)
• National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR).
There are a large number of unrecognised Unions
and Associations functioning in Indian Railways.
However it is the policy of the administration neither
to enter into correspondence nor negotiate with
these unions.

16. Impact of trade unions in IR
• With the formation and recognition of employees
organisation, the Administration cannot make
unilateral decisions that affect employer-employee
relationships. Decisions relating to policies on
employment, transfer, promotion, training,
adoption of latest technology, wages, lay off, etc.
are no longer can be determined unilaterally by the
management and employees unions has to be
consulted for these.

17. Impact of trade unions in
IR(Contd.,)
• The railway federations are being consulted
through the meetings of Permanent Negotiating
Machinery (PNM) and Joint Consultative Machinery
(JCM) before a final decision is taken by the
management on staff matters.
• The Railway federations have also conducted in the
past a few strikes to press their demands, of which
the most important was the Indian Railways Strike
of 1974.

18. THE INDIAN RAILWAYS STRIKE OF
1974
• Indian Railways strike of 1974 is a saga of heroism of
ordinary railway workers and their families who
dared to stand up against the might of the Indian state.
It is the most widespread revolt by the working class in
independent India and the biggest strike in the history
of Indian Railway
• The strike commenced on 8 May 1974. The strike was
brutally suppressed by government with thousands
being sent to jail and losing their jobs. The strike was
called off on 27 May 1974. The 1974 strike forced
political parties across the spectrum to spell out their
stand clearly.

19. THE INDIAN RAILWAYS STRIKE OF
1974(Contd.,)
• The strike was held to demand a raise in pay scale,
which had remained stagnant over many years, in
spite of the fact that pay scales of other
government owned entities had risen over the
years. The Railways, although government-owned,
remained an organization in which the accepted
worldwide standard of an eight-hour working day
was violated with impunity.
• The strike was brutally suppressed by Indira Gandhi
government with thousands being sent to jail and
losing their jobs.

20. Problems of Trade Unions in IR
• Uneven Growth
• Low Membership
• Multiplicity of Unions
• Inter Union Rivalry
• Lack of Interest
• Limited Stress on Welfare
• Lack of Public Support

21. Problems of IR Employees and
How Trade Union Resolves it..
• Most of the employees are not satisfied with the
promotion policy of the Indian Railways, they have the
complain that they are not promoted fairly. Hence, the
trade union strives to bring a better and fairer
promotion policy through negation with the
authorities.
• Almost all the employees are dissatisfied with the New
Pension Scheme, to mitigate their grievance; the trade
union is trying hard to bring back the old pension
scheme.
• The unions organize cultural programs and social
welfare programs like blood donation camp, flood relief
camp etc.

22. Trade Union in IT Sector
• Trade unionists all over the country believe that
promoting trade unions in the IT sector will lay the
foundation for its next phase of growth and also
empower its management team.
• Trade unions will provide the right platform for
organizing workers and to voice their rights and
address their grievances. Without trade unions, IT
companies would become either too paternalistic
or too dictatorial.

23. Need For Trade Union in IT Sector
• The IT industry continues to chart remarkable
double-digit growth and the IT workers are
working hard without the backup of any labour
laws
• IT professionals are “the labourers of the
information age,” as they toil for long hours, they
work from morning till late at night, and some of
them are still paid comparatively meagre salaries

24. Reasons Why IT Sector Didn’t
have any Trade Union
• Majority of the workforce being white collared,
professional employees, somehow, there was never
a common cause for which they all came together
and fought. The attitude amongst professionals
unlike the blue collared factory shop worker is they
do not need unions to protect themselves, they feel
their performance alone decides their fate in the
company

25. Reasons Why IT Sector Didn’t
have any Trade Union(Contd.,)
• There is also the fear of getting black listed. If
employees are known to create trouble in one IT
company, they getting hired in another IT company
will become very difficult.
• Trade unionism is for those who seek job security,
for those wanting to stick around in one company
till they retire. But in IT, people do not seek a job
for security; it is always for better work content and
higher pay and that is why this sector has probably
one of the highest attrition rates.

26. How Trade Union will affect IT
Sector
• IT sector is very people-centric, the entire business
is run by people skills thus if unions come and
restrict whom to hire or fire, it could seriously
jeopardize the business.
• The sector is purely driven by performance alone.
And if one does not perform, he/she is liable to get
sacked; even for cost cutting only the poor
performers should go

27. Emergence of Trade Union in IT
Sector
• The calls for unionisation grew louder after the industry
leader Tata Consultancy Services began cutting jobs
early last year
Acknowledging employee rights for a strong 4.5 lakh IT
workforce in Tamil Nadu, state labour secretary Kumar
Jayant in reply to a petition by the labour union wrote,
"IT company employees also are free to form trade
unions and redress their grievances through evoking
the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947. Any
trade union with IT employees as its members can rise
industrial disputes under section 2 (k) of the act and
seek remedy,"

28. Software Engineer is also a
Workman
• Last month, the Madras high court stepped in to
quash the dismissal of a software engineer of HCL
Technologies on the grounds of poor performance.
Rejecting the company's objections, the judge said
a software engineer was indeed a workman.
According to the Industrial Disputes Act, 'workman'
means any person employed in any industry doing
any manual unskilled, skilled, technical,
operational, clerical, or supervisory work, for hire
or reward, whether the terms of the employment
be express or implied.

29. References
http://www.slideshare.net/virajchandratre/industrial-dispute-at-jet-airways.
Abhishek and Neetu, J Account Mark 2013, 2:1 http://dx.doi.or/10.4172/2168-9601.1000104