PRESENT POSITION        

1.      There are over 7,000 trade unions (submitting returns) in the country, and more than 70 federations & confederations registered under the Trade Unions Act, 1926. The degree of unionism is quite big in organised industrial sector. It is minor in the unorganised sectors and agricultural.

2.      Though the number of unions has wholly enhanced in the last four decades, the union membership per union has not kept pace. On labour, the National Commission has stated that just 131 unions contain a membership of over 5,000. More than 70percentof the unions contain a membership of below 500. Over the years the standard membership figures per union have steadily fallen from approximate 1387 in the year 1943 to 750 in the year 2000. Unions along a membership of over 2000 constitute roughly 4 % of the overall unions in the country.

3.      There is a high degree of unionisation (changing from 30% to over 70%) in iron, cotton, textiles, coal, and steel, cement, ports, railways, insurance, banking , and docks and tobacco sector. White collar unions have also enhanced significantly covering officers, managers, senior executives, civil servants, self employed professions like, lawyers, traders, doctors etc., for safeguarding their interests.

Box 1: Trade Unions and their Membership

The 12 million unionised employees in the country are scattered between 12 central trade union organisations (like against one or two in UK, Japan, USA) with the, INTUC, BMS, CITU, AITUC and HMS amongst the top five. The membership figures of each such type of union, naturally are not very striking - AITUC contain 9.24 lakh; INTUC contain 27.06 lakh; HMS contain 14.77 lakh & UTUC 8.3 lakh (Lenin group); & CITU contain 17.98 lakh members in the year of 1995. The membership figures have not significantly changed over the years.

Lots of benefits in the form of representation in many government committees, wage negotiation committees ,PSU boards would be available to the BMS as a consequence of this survey. In the year of 1980 survey INTUC emerged as the topper amongst the national trade unions in the country. The survey results of year 1989 had been leaked to the press in the year 1992, but not officially endorsed by the government till lately. What about the figures of members claimed by INTUC and others after the year 1989 survey? A meeting held on 2.10.1994 did not resolve the conflicting claims of RSS- affiliated BMS & Congress supported INTUC and the stalemate continues!