WHAT SHOULD INDIAN TRADE UNIONS DO? AN AGENDA FOR TRADE UNIONS AT THE RISK OF SERMONISING!

Transcription

1 The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Vol. 51, No. 4, 2008 WHAT SHOULD INDIAN TRADE UNIONS DO? AN AGENDA FOR TRADE UNIONS AT THE RISK OF SERMONISING! K.R. Shyam Sundar* Collective institutions in general and trade unions in particular have been weakened by the developments in economic and other spheres. But they have taken strong measures both at the local and global levels to revive their organisations. Trade unions in India are feeling the heat and they need strategies to revive the workers movement. This paper, while combining theoretical and empirical aspects, seeks to present an agenda for trade unions in India to act upon. Although supply constraints (nature of the industry or occupation) are relevant in the functioning of unions, the paper has stressed that the union strategy plays an important role in union survival, consolidation and expansion. The strategy outlined in the paper is based on five organisational logics. I. INTRODUCTION The history of trade unions in India, as in many other countries which came under colonial rule, was influenced by the colonial model of industrial relations (see Shyam Sundar, 2005b, for features of the model). Although the objective conditions needed for the emergence of trade unions existed, workers needed the assistance of the outsiders, especially from the social and political spheres, to form trade unions. This facilitated close alliances between political movements such as the nationalist, communist, and socialist movements, among others, as also the labour movement. These surely led to multiplicity in and fragmentation of the union movement, a feature, which continued even after political independence. Political and governance considerations influenced formulations and strategies in the union movement (see Shyam Sundar, 2005b; 2008a). The colonial model of industrial relations, in general, was continued after Independence for various reasons (see Shyam Sundar, 2005b). The union movement was greatly aided by the state interventionist model, which determined most of the substantive and procedural rules of the industrial relations system (IRS) and the labour market operations. The union movement won many a privileges via the political route (political exchange, tripartite bodies, etc.), and the judicial route than by the market route (that is, strikes, collective bargaining). Such benefits and privileges included institutionalisation of dearness allowance (D.A.), legalisation of bonus and a basket of social security benefits, employment security, regulation of conditions of work for vulnerable workers like the contract labour, child labour, etc. The judiciary played a significant role in creating an industrial jurisprudence helpful to the cause of labour rights. The state has not accorded organising and striking rights to its employees and used its might to crush direct actions, on the other hand, it created a regulatory framework governing strikes (and lockouts) in the private sector, which made the conduct of legal strikes well nigh impossible. But the trade unions, having achieved some of the rights via easy routes and well armed by these, flexed their muscles and adopted radical pressure tactics like the gherao, industrial violence and bandhs (owing to their political colour). Pluralism was perceived as * Reader, Department of Economics, Guru Nanak College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Mumbai.

2 1066 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF LABOUR ECONOMICS being inefficient and costly to economic growth; the state and the employers responded with repressive and counter-offensive policies and actions that silenced the unions for a while (see Shyam Sundar, 1996). The big and politically costly stoppages like the Bombay textile strike were handled by the state-capital coalition in a manner that spelt disaster for the union movement itself. Factors like the rise in labour militancy, challenges posed by trade unions to efficiencyenhancing measures, rise in real wages (labour aristocracy thesis), and the alleged resultant poor employment growth, myopic and sectional organisational vision of the unions (by leaving out the millions and concentrating on the hundreds, so to say), the political clout of unions, and so on, questioned the social legitimacy of trade unions. The economic situation meanwhile changed. The state and the political class began to distance themselves from the actions of the unions. The judiciary also changed its tone, arguably conforming to the new economic logic and structure. The new economic environment weakened the collective institutions and the critics chose to question their very relevance. Trade unions in India as elsewhere (see Kaufman, 2006) today face several challenges and need an agenda for survival, if not for revival. I map out these challenges and attempt to provide some answers for the same. II. THE GLOBAL CONTEXT Researchers have observed an inverted U pattern in union membership and density in many countries (Kaufman, 2006; Lansbury, et al., 2004). But researchers point out that the declining tendency has not been universal as can be seen from Table 1. Table 1 Trends in Union Density in Selected Countries Region/Period Decrease Increase Stable/Little Change OECD 1970 to 2003 Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Korea, Japan, France, Belgium, Spain Italy, Canada Netherlands, Ireland Latin America and Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, Chile, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama the Caribbean Ecuador, Guatemala, Jamaica, El Salvador, Mexico, Panama, Dominican Republic Taiwan ( ), Peru, Uruguay Slovakia ( ), Bermuda ( ) Others India ( ), Singapore ( ) Malta ( ), Turkey ( ), South Africa ( ) Note: Figures in brackets indicate years. Source: Blanchflower (2006). The number of countries that do not show a decline almost equals those that show it. Some European countries (for example, Scandinavian countries) are exceptions to the so-called global declining trends. Secondly, other researchers have noted variations in the extent of the decline (Lansbury, et al., 2004). Thirdly, there have been tales of union revivals in several countries owing to organisational drives, mergers, etc. India figures in the category of decrease in Table 1; this has been the estimation by several researchers and union leaders (see Shyam Sundar, 2008a, for citation of the references). It is surprising, even shocking, that researchers, especially foreign researchers, use the union membership data despite its incurable shortcomings. The weaknesses of membership data stem from the fact that both the submission of information by trade unions and the processing of data by the state labour departments are not up to the mark (see Shyam Sundar, 1999; 2008a).

3 AGENDA FOR INDIAN TRADE UNIONS 1067 Secondly, what has been the picture as far as union rights are concerned? Asia figures poorly in the ratification of C.87 and C.98, while the record of Africa and the Americas is far better (see Shyam Sundar, forthcoming b, for more details). In Asia, our neighbours record on the ratification of core labour standards, in general, and the two standards on unionism, in particular, is far more impressive than ours ( accessed October 5, 2008). The environment in most developing countries is not conducive to healthy unionism as allegations regarding employers interference, anti-union discrimination and the right to strike have been the main issues that have been examined by the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association (CFA) (see Fig in ILO, 2000; Table 2.2, p. 27 in ILO, 2004; Table1.3, p.10, A.2 in ILO, 2008.). The Asian and the Pacific regions witnessed a massive increase in the allegations during the last few years, though the number of allegations emanating from the Americas is still far higher (ibid.). But more comprehensive data is the number of violations annually counted by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) (see Shyam Sundar, 2008d, for assessments of the databases on these issues). Table 2 Number of Violations by Categories and Regions, 2007 Particulars Africa Americas Asia and Europe Middle East Total the Pacific Deaths Death threats Torture/beatings/injuries (Physical damages) Arrests Detention Imprisonment Dismissals Total ,111 Source: accessed on October 5, The Asian and the Pacific regions accounted for 57 per cent of the total violations in 2007, as seen in Table 2. They have a worse record than the other regions as far as deaths (next only to the Americas), physical damages, arrests and dismissals are concerned the police state perspective largely applies to this region. The foregoing review thus suggests that formidable challenges are facing trade unions in the world and in India. III. THE AGENDA 1. Back to the Basics: Organising There are two aspects to the future of union membership, viz. statistical basis and organisational strategies. Some researchers have predicted, on the basis of statistical calculations, a perdition of trade unions in the UK rather than a resurgence (Metcalf, 2005). What is going to be the scene in India? Presented below are the annual average growth figures of registered trade unions in India for over five decades, for the purpose of studying the pace of union organisation. The data clearly shows that there has been a slowdown in the organisation of unions during the last two decades or so. The growth rates of the last 10 to 15 years are likely to be different as the Labour Bureau was providing only the estimated number of registered unions, which often meant a repetition

4 1068 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF LABOUR ECONOMICS Table 3 Average Annual Growth Rates of Registered Trade Unions, Period % Note: Growth rates calculated from the data in Indian Labour Year Book and Indian Labour Statistics (various issues). of figures of the previous year(s) in the case of the states not submitting returns, which were many. The slowdown began immediately after three major showdowns, the Bangalore public enterprises strike ( ), the Bombay textile strike ( ), and the jute industry strike in West Bengal (the mid-1980s), and it worsened in the post-liberalisation period. The formation of new unions in Maharashtra and West Bengal showed a decline during this period (Labour in West Bengal, (various issues); Shyam Sundar, 2008b). Secondly, the inadequacy of unionism is evident from the fact that the average number of registered unions in constitutes only about one-fourth of the establishments in the organised sector in 2001 ( publications/aer/annex /ann1.pdf, accessed October 5, 2008). This shows two things. One, trade unions, especially the central trade union organisations (CTUOs) have been pounding only at the already unionised establishments, which reflects their poverty of organisational skills and vision. Two, it shows that never-organised establishments constituted a significant proportion even in the so-called organised sector. The inadequacy becomes the sheer poverty of organisation, if one considers the proportion of registered unions in the 5.83 lakh establishments employing more than 9 workers (as enumerated by the Economic Census 2005, see GoI, 2006). The trade unions have been battling over the core segment of the working class and have fought many a bloody struggle over two issues: one, displacing the existing union or a faction, and two, locating themselves in the premium segments of the organised sector like public enterprises, railways, banks, insurance, cotton textiles, pharmaceuticals, engineering, etc. Membership depends on the workforce rather than the labour force in India, where the trade unions do not administer unemployment benefit schemes or provide any kind of service to the unemployed. The basic facts regarding the labour market may be kept in mind while assessing the future of unions. The numbers of the labour force, workforce and the unemployed grew between the recent two rounds of employment estimation by the NSSO (GoI, 2008, Table 10.9). The growth in employment took place largely in the informal economy (even in the organised sector), indicating poor quality of employment (Bhalla, 2008, p. 13). The selfemployed constitute a significant share of the total employment as this figure is also growing and accounting for a large slice in employment growth, while casual employment has declined marginally and regular employment (surprisingly) has shown a rise. The number of informal economy workers grew from million in to million in The socalled organised sector shed 1.79 million jobs during the period The share of contract workers in total organised manufacturing employment has risen in many states (Pages and Roy, 2006, p. 375). The organised manufacturing sector witnessed a considerable haemorrhage of employment during the period (1.28 million), while the new sectors, to some extent, compensated for the loss in it. Male employment declined by 2.17 million while female

5 AGENDA FOR INDIAN TRADE UNIONS 1069 employment increased by 0.38 million. The patterns of employment are not encouraging for unionism and trade unions face formidable challenges in this sphere. The verified membership of 12 major CTUOs in 1989 (a pre-liberalisation year) and in 2002 (a post-liberalisation year) could be used to figure out the tendencies in aggregate union membership the CTUOs account for 35 per cent of the estimated total membership in Maharashtra and for about half of the reported membership in Tamil Nadu (Shyam Sundar 2008c). It could be that they may be accounting for at least half of the total membership in the country (if such fantasy exists!). The non-agricultural membership of the 12 CTUOs increased from 1054 million in 1989 to million in 2002 (see John, 2007, for detailed data). The density of the CTUOs for the non-agricultural sector declined slightly from 9.71 per cent to 9.28 per cent. The relative stability in this sector shows that unions are paying attention to never members (see Bryson and Gomez, 2005 for the use of this concept in the UK context) and never organised establishments within the so-called organised sector. The total membership of 12 CTUOs (including agriculture) increased from million in 1989 to million in The CTUO density rose from 4.50 per cent in 1989 to 6.39 per cent in 2002 (the number of workers counted on current daily status by the NSSO is the denominator). This shows that most of the organising in the recent past has been undertaken in the so-called unorganised sector. Trade unions have been pushed to this frontier because they were myopic and unimaginative (evidenced by the high non-coverage, see below), and helpless in the organised sector (indicated by the sharp decline in employment), and because they neglected the large unorganised sector. In countries in the West, there can be talks of union renewal because they peaked in the past only to decline later, and hence talks of union membership perdition are relevant there. The question of peak union density depends on what one takes as potential membership. There are also issues relating to who should be counted as union members for example, does one count the unemployed as in the European countries where the ghent system (a system prevalent in some European countries (like Belgium, Denmark, Finland) wherein the trade unions administer the unemployment benefits funds) prevails? While several European countries with centralised bargaining systems in their heydays peaked to union density scores of over 70 per cent, the Anglo-Saxon countries with decentralised bargaining systems considered a much smaller figure of per cent as reasonable. India is yet to peak, even if one considers the union density in Asia [it ranges from 4-7 per cent ( at the lower levels) in India and Thailand to per cent ( at the higher levels) in Singapore, Sri Lanka and Taiwan] (see contributions in Benson and Zhu, 2008). In order to expand union coverage and to organise atypical and other workers in new sectors, trade unions need to go back to the basics: organising. In other words, there is a need to move from union movement to labour movement. Then, the relevant question to ask here is: how to mobilise workers to join unions. The recent theoretical innovation called the organising model (as opposed to the service model ) provides some direction in this regard to trade unions. The fact that this debate has not figured in India speaks volumes of the state of things here. In the traditional model of service unions, trade unions treated the members as clients and catered to their needs while conducting the routine businesses of negotiation, grievance redressal, striking, conducting legal battles, etc. In this model, the trade unions revolved around the existing membership and spent their energies in catering to their needs. The organising model, on the other hand, attempts to break new ground by various strategies (such as proactive recruitment drives and campaigning, emphasis on personal contact in organising, workers involvement, creation of core activists, etc.) to organise historically neglected workers, energise

6 1070 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF LABOUR ECONOMICS the union movement by enabling active participation of members, and create identities both at the workplace and outside it. It is about transforming the union movement into a labour movement. The declining union membership in several countries prompted organising initiatives and other measures like organisational restructuring to revive the union movement for example, the AFL-CIO formed an Organising Institute (OI) ( the Trade Union Congress instituted an Organising Academy in 1998, and the Australian Council of Trade Unions started an Organising Works Programme in Trade unions claim that these initiatives have paid significant dividends (see _tuc/tuc-8365-f0.cfm?theme-newunionism). Organising initiatives in India need to be different from those that have been initiated in the West as we have a large informal economy. 2. Penetration into New Sectors: Problems and Prospects While the above trends are encouraging, it is well known that trade unions have not been able to penetrate the new sectors like the information technology (IT) and IT-enabled services (ITES) sector, hospitality, new retail establishments like the shopping malls, units in the special economic zones (SEZs), and so on. The SEZ has proved to be impenetrable for unions for several reasons such as tight gate security, less scope for socialisation of workers (as workers are transported by company busses in and out under security), the absence of a home contact strategy as workers are dispersed unlike in the past, and so on. The efforts made by CITU in Vizag and other places in this regard have not proved to be successful. Unionisation of new segments like the new retail sector, and of IT and ITES establishments (call centres) has become difficult for various reasons. These new sectors employ more women employees and are being perceived as impacting gender equality issues (Anthony and Gayathri, 2008; Vijayabaskar, 2008). We will firstly talk about the IT sector. The busy work schedules, professional and white collar titles, middle class aspirations of the employees, attractive work conditions, human resource policies (providing alternatives to unions like an internal grievance mechanism, team leaders, easy access to officers, etc.), the pro-employer state policies (exemptions from restraining legal clauses, protection during a bandh, etc.), mobile character of the capital, employer opposition, fluctuating and uncertain business conditions (owing to their links with international trade and currency exchange), etc., are some of the important factors that work against the unionisation of these employees, though under tremendous stress (see Anthony and Gayathri, 2008; Sarkar, 2008; Vijayabaskar, 2008). Not only is the demand for unions poor (see Chatterjee, 2005), but so also is their supply. Union organising in the IT industry began recently and the important organisations are the Union for ITES Professionals (UNITES, set up in 2004), West Bengal IT Services Association (WBITSA), the Centre for BPO Professionals (CBPOP), and Young Professionals Collective, (a welfare association representing employees in the call centres in Mumbai since 2006). These organisations have a poor membership base and one of them (UNITES) is seeking affiliation with the INTUC for reasons of survival (Sarkar, 2008, p. 87). It is significant to note that the employers of BPOs want not a trade union but an NGO (which is a soft option to the firms) as unions would hamper their growth. Some theoretical constructs could help us understand the dynamics of industrial relations in these sectors. The discontented employees have basically two choices, to raise a voice or quit (Freeman and Medoff, 1991). The latter is possible if the labour market is tight, that is,

7 AGENDA FOR INDIAN TRADE UNIONS 1071 alternative jobs are available. In these industries, the easy availability of jobs, a relatively higher human capital endowment (in some operations), and the young profile of employees have resulted in a higher labour turnover (that is, accessions and separations). Secondly, women employees who populate these sectors (IT or retail) do not see future careers in this industry and there are several who are under-employed (see the survey results of Anthony and Gayathri, 2008; Vijayabaskar, 2008). Trade unions flourish when employees feel rooted in the organisations and not when there are transient workers. Thirdly, the employers adopt a unitarist perspective of employment relations, wherein collective institutions are abhorred and employment relations are viewed as internal affairs. Fourthly, state support to these sectors is significant. The traditional model of trade unionism is ill-suited to these sectors. Secondly, the requirements of these professional workers relate more to jobs (cultural and social bonding, some support systems to cope with the work stress) and job market factors like skill upgradation and relevance, advances in technology, and job opportunities. Any organisation of these employees undertaking emotional labour needs to incorporate these to establish organisational space in them. 3. Voice Mechanisms to Non-standard Workers: Role of Trade Unions Trade unions need to integrate the atypical workers like the contract workers into the mainstream process by providing them voice mechanisms. Both trade unions and the regular workers viewed atypical workers like the contract and casual workers with negative approaches ranging from indifference to disdain. But things are changing. There are instances wherein both mainstream trade unions and others have organised the contract workers and even reached collective agreements concerning them, for example, the unionisation of contract workers at the Airports Authority India in Mumbai and other cities, in the Rashtriya Chemical Fertilisers, and in Reliance Energy Ltd. (REL) (all in Mumbai) (see Shyam Sundar, 2007d, for further details), in Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) in Tamil Nadu (see AITUC, 2008b). Again, at a recent meeting of the Central Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) held this year, a large number of contract workers and their union leaders participated and the conference resolved that the permanent workers shall fight for the cause of the contract workers also in addition to their own (emphasis original) (AITUC, 2008a). Similarly, 20,000 contract workers in the Bokaro steel plant were on the path of struggle demanding that public sector management pay them higher minimum wages as per the official guidelines and not to deny them gate passes, which would result in loss of work (see AITUC, 2008a; 2008c). The trade union agenda for these workers should concentrate more on other forms of securities (work, income, skill, etc.) than employment security (which was reflected in their demand for automatic absorption upon abolition of the contract system) (see Shyam Sundar, 2007d, for more information on the agenda). 4. The Challenge of Global Labour Flexibility Strategy The international and domestic organisations are relentlessly driving the agenda of deregulation of the labour market and IRS in three ways, that is, intellectual, empirical and policy prescriptions. Economic theories have almost always viewed trade unions with negative approaches ranging from disapproval to disdain. The classical economic logic has been that in a market economy, trade unions cannot alter wages owing to the fixity of wage fund and even if they did, it would hurt capital accumulation (as the wage rise can only be at the expense of profits), depress wages owing to population pressure (resulting from higher wages), maximise sectional interests or reduce employment. The neo-classical theory accuses trade unions of

8 1072 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF LABOUR ECONOMICS acting as monopolies to drive the wage rate above the market rate, which act is often achieved by the threat of industrial sanctions and restrictive actions. Thus, these collective institutions are seen as introducing rigidities in the functioning of the market economy, which it regards as an ideal one. They emphasise individualisation of employment relations, wherein the workers, behaving like capitalists, would offer their services to the best buyer. The soft form of the theory sees collective institutions such as free trade unions and collective bargaining as forming an integral part of a free and democratic society. They could cause negative effects, but these effects will be nullified by constraints imposed by the competitive market environment and decentralised bargaining. The empirical and the policy-making strategy are often intertwined. International and national organisations ( like the World Bank) conduct surveys to issue comparative reports of the competitiveness of firms/countries/regions and the ideal-ness of the respective business environments in countries. These exercises are principally undertaken from the point of view of the business firms. The rational expectation guiding investment decisions is that capital should flow to regions where there exists an ideal business environment. These are avidly consumed by the governments and capital suiting their interests. Secondly, social scientists use innovative data construction (on labour regulation) and powerful econometric techniques to derive results suiting their neo-classical (neo-liberal) stance. These are well reviewed and do not bear repetition for lack of space (see Freeman, 2005; Shyam Sundar, 2007b; forthcoming b; The essence of the strategy is that the survey results and the empirical studies are used to derive policy prescriptions that conform to the deregulation perspective, and these are pushed on the governments by powerful international financial agencies and the multinational enterprises (MNEs); they are lapped up selectively by the domestic capital. These challenges are formidable. But they can be countered in three ways. One, social scientists should pick up the inconsistencies and flaws in the findings and methodologies of these exercises and publicise them, which is being done by international trade union organisations, the ILO, and the researchers. The basic argument of the critics is that the surveys are used to promote labour market deregulation in the developing countries and they, at the same time, do not factor in the fundamental human rights of the ILO in their assessment criteria, though they have been endorsed by the global society. For example, there are countries like Saudi Arabia and Uganda which are rated high in terms of employment flexibility, but fair poorly in terms of human rights (see Shyam Sundar, forthcoming b) for a comprehensive critical review of all the major exercises). Two, the surveys of labour standards compliance and of labour rights violations should run parallel with the business exercises, and there should be negotiations between the global agencies to persuade the business survey agencies to include labour standards as a component of their surveys. It is distressing to note that the dialogue process initiated by global unions like the ITUC and by the global unions with the Bank on the controversy surrounding the DB exercise failed to produce any concrete results (see Shyam Sundar, forthcoming b). Three, there exists counter perspectives and the trade unions need to use these ideas for countering the anti-union offensive. There are three perspectives that counter the deregulation perspectives. The voice model of Freeman and Medoff (1991) argues that voice mechanisms like grievance procedures and strikes, in fact, enhance efficiency in a number of ways (say, by reducing labour turnover or reducing transaction costs via collective bargaining). Secondly, the decent work perspective of the ILO also envisages an active and meaningful role for trade unions (see Shyam Sundar, forthcoming b) Decent work encompasses four dimensions such as work and employment, social protection (security), rights at work, representation and dialogue. Decent work is dignity at work, which can be ensured by voice

9 AGENDA FOR INDIAN TRADE UNIONS 1073 and participative mechanisms. Representation could assume the classic form of trade unionism in the case of wage labourers and other social forms in the case of non-wage labourers. The rights discourse stream in the human rights literature offer scope for incorporation of labour rights in the larger human rights agenda. 5. Social Partnership as a Means of Union Revival? The employers organisations, the national commissions and researchers in India and abroad have been advocating social partnership as a route to mutual gains and economic prosperity at both the micro and macro levels (see Badigannavar, 2007). Social partnership is necessary because: (a) union power has been weakened in the new economic environment (owing to a shift in the balance of power argument), (b) strikes are irrelevant and costly ( strike irrelevance argument), (c) new employees do not want unions and class conflict ( workers as capitalists argument ) (see Badigannavar, 2007; Ramaswamy, 2000, for expositions of these and other arguments). But two important justifications for adopting the social partnership model relate to the union institution. Social partnership conceives of the inclusion of trade unions in the managerial decision- making process, which will enable unions to regain their institutional centrality and presence in industrial relations. Two, it could foster union growth (see Terry, 2004). The issue here is whether co-operation should be understood as a functional necessity (as would be by the pluralists) or as an ideological component (as would be by the social partnership theorists). Some disturbing questions arise in this context. Do employers want trade unions and collective bargaining? Whom does it benefit? Does partnership mean labour quiescence only? The amount of anti-union allegations seen earlier, high employer militancy (see Shyam Sundar, 2008b), etc. show employers in poor light. The benefits of co-operation may be meagre and symbolise too great a price to pay. It is not a coincidence that the share of wages in the total wealth created should fall rather steeply and be accompanied by less workers strife and a rise in employer militancy in India (see Mohan, 2003; Shyam Sundar, 2008b; 2008c, and the references cited therein). Trade unions at the micro level in India have largely accepted the competitive theorists proposition that workers interests are intertwined with those of the firm and that co-operation is important for both. But they have used the strike weapon at the macro level for the protection of hard-won rights, at least in the formal terrain (see Shyam Sundar, 2005a; 2005b). More than a dozen all-india strikes have taken place during the last decade and a half. Although the number of strikes is declining, the number of workers involved (mobilisation aspect) and the number of work-days lost have not been declining consistently. Strikes revitalise the union movement, help protect and sustain hard-fought benefits and privileges secured over the years, and cannot be ruled out. Finally, the empirical evidence on the impact of social partnership is not encouraging; at least, it has not promoted union renewal (see Badigannavar, 2007; Terry, 2004). Trade unions need to realise the perils of unabated labour militancy and at any rate they, according to the class war theorists, play only a marginal role in the class war (some would say they aid the institutionalisation of conflict). 6. Broad-basing the Labour Movement: Space for Non-union Forms of Organisations Trade unions and social organisations need to coalesce to integrate labour rights in the broader human rights perspective, which will inform the labour movement. This is necessary not only because the political borders between countries but also because social borders between the work and community are fast dissolving. Secondly, there is a need for alliances because organising

10 1074 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF LABOUR ECONOMICS the informal economy, which consists of varieties of occupations and work forms, necessitates different organising strategies and the involvement of other social organisations. The limitations of traditional forms of unionism and the emerging new social subjectivities like the consumers movement, and the labour NGOs to organise various segments of the informal economy, are well-known (see, for example, Chang and Wong, 2005; Gothoskar, 2005; Ramaswamy, 2000; Shyam Sundar, 2003). Trade unions in India have not been warm to the new forms of labour organisations such as the Self Employed Women s Association (SEWA); the stiff opposition displayed by the CTUOs to the inclusion of SEWA as one of the CTUOs for membership verification in 2002 and its affiliation to the ITUC cannot be forgotten (Shyam Sundar, 2007c. The trade unions stand with regard to these non-union agencies can be summarised as follows. While the NGOs are doing good work in the unorganised sector and provide valuable inputs through their research studies for the labour movement, they basically lack representational legitimacy (nonmembership organisations, management by funding agencies, lack of accountability) and are soft organisations with a soft mandate (like the Company Codes of Conduct) (see citucentre.org/org_structure/conference/general_secretary_report.html; see also Shyam Sundar, 2007d). Hence, trade unions should adopt a cautious approach towards them and should not allow the NGOS to usurp the role of trade unions (ibid.). I take the view that the mobilisation of new workers requires an organic movement, embracing both factory and community spaces, which is the essence of social movement unionism (SMU). And, there exists enough common ground between the two for joint action. While trade unions constitute the pivotal centre of the social movement, there can be, to start with, issue-based and local coalitions with other community organisations. There are instances to show that this can be done (see, for example, Gothoskar, 2005). 7. Globalisation of Trade Unions: Trends, Perils and Prospects Global unionism, rank-and-file internationalism (spontaneous outbursts outside the official organisational framework), social movement unionism, and cyber unionism are the responses of the workers to the globalisation of capital. Global unionism is based on the premise that while changes in the product market have surely disorganised and weakened the trade unions, they have, at the same time, provided opportunities for new orientation to the union movement. The fantastic changes in the transport, information and communication technologies that have promoted international divisions of labour have also aided the trade unions in: (a) building networks and alliances, (b) conducting global as well as local struggles and co-ordinating them, (c) disseminating information in real-time, and (d) building solidarity. The basic logic for talking about globalisation of the union movement is that as capital has been extending its power and control globally, trade unions should follow suit (Breitenfellner, 1997; Gumbrell- McCormick, 2004,). Secondly, the organisational forms and structure of labour organisations are, in a sense, determined by those of capital. The logic for social movement unionism is that since the globalisation process touches the lives of not only workers but other sections too, it affects not only work but livelihood concerns (for example, the acquisition of land for SEZs), it hurts not only working but living conditions also (for example, global warming), and pay and the conditions of work are no longer determined within the plant but at the global level (via policy conditionalities), trade unions need to form social alliances. The labour rights issues are intertwined with larger issues like democracy, environmental protection, the consumer movement, etc. (see Ramaswamy, 2000; Ramaswamy, 2005; see Shyam Sundar, Web unionism (see sites like labournet, labourstart.org of Eric Lee, sw@socialistworker.org, China Labour

11 AGENDA FOR INDIAN TRADE UNIONS 1075 Magazine, labourfile (India) etc.) is another important constituent of global unionism and is hailed not only as an important instrument of communication but also a membership augmentation, a struggle site (cyber picketing), and a democracy-promoting mechanism (see Lee, 2001, and the references cited in Shyam Sundar, 2003). With the onset of new economic forces, the global trade unions are seeking to broaden their base through a process of mergers, alliances and integration. International union federations have realised to the need to imitate the corporate forms of restructuring as did the local unions in several countries (as noted above). The ICFTU merged with the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) in November 2006 to form the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), and the ITUC has been welcomed by the International Organisation of Employers (ILO, 2008, p. 29). The objective of the merger is to strengthen the union movement and to be able to exert more pressure on governments and companies (see displaydocument.aspindex= ). The WFTU represents the other polar organisation, which lost its steam with the collapse of the Soviet bloc and survives on members mainly from the developing countries (Gumbrell-McCormick, 2004, p. 188). Both have attempted consolidating measures within their ranks. The Global Unions (see for more information on this) and the Council of Global Union, set up to foster closer co-operation between the global unions, (see spip.php?rubrique27) are some important forms of organisational consolidation at the global level. While the Left-oriented CTUOs and sectoral unions in India like the AITUC, CITU, AICCTU, UTUC, etc. are affiliated to the WFTU, HMS, INTUC and SEWA are affiliated to the ITUC. It is nice to talk of international solidarity and there have been encouraging signs on this front (see Breintenfellner, 1997; Hodkinson, 2005; Gumbrell-McCormick, 2004; Ramaswamy 2005; for details of positive action). But there are several thorny issues and I briefly review them here. The basic issue that has been at the heart of international solidarity is whether there will be genuine solidarity between the unions in the rich and poor countries or whether it will be characterised by dependence (Gumbrell-McCormick, 2004). The divide between the North and South within the ITUC on the issue of social clause (and the problem of global labour arbitrage) or export subsidies (see ITUC online for further information on this) is well-known. There are other problems in forging solidarity at the global level. Economic nationalism can raise tempers and lead to ill-founded fears and accusations such as stealing jobs, protectionism, etc. In many countries, the union movement is fragmented and unity among the peak bodies is low (see the contributions in Benson and Zhu, relating to unions in Asia). The international union movement is divided between the pluralistic Anglo-Saxon model of industrial relations espoused by the ITUC (see for example, Greenfield, 1998; Gumbrell- McCormick, 2004) and the class conflict model followed by the WFTU (see WFTU website). But there are common concerns and there are encouraging signs for global action (see Breitenfellner, 1997; GLS, 2006; Shyam Sundar, 2003). The International Framework Agreements (IFA) are a case in point. It is a strategic response to globalisation and the creation of global production chains (see ILO, The significant aspect of these agreements is that they are founded on the core labour standards. They mostly cover the subsidiaries of the multinational enterprises (MNEs) and, in some instances, the joint ventures, suppliers, and subcontractors also. Indian trade unions need to look at this option as MNEs are and will be operating here significantly. There are new issues such as green jobs (jobs covering the product and the processes which do not spoil the environment), wherein global as well as social alliances are possible and the global alliances will benefit the developing countries like India

12 1076 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF LABOUR ECONOMICS for issue sensitisation and adopt a programme of action for both prevention and cure. To be sure, there will be conflicts. India needs to work on the prospects of forging meaningful alliances for networking (both physical and electronic), information gathering (especially on the MNCs), global solidarity against local abuses (like in South Korea or China) and for building a strategy against the flexibility driving international institutions. 8. From State Patronage to Voluntarism The trade unions in India have been accused of using state patronage (laws, compulsory adjudication and conciliation, state protection via politics, etc.) in lieu of bipartism to build the rules of employment relationship. There are healthy changes with regard to both. There is some evidence to show that the role of conciliation and compulsory adjudication in settling work stoppages and industrial disputes is declining in some states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu (see Shyam Sundar, 2008; 2008b; 2008c). Both the trade unions and the employers, in recent times, have been emphasising the need for a greater role of bipartism this partly stems from the disillusionment with the state, whose approach to unions varies from hostility to indifference (Shyam Sundar, 2008a). Although the employers have been aggressive in their bid to reform the substantive rules and assert their managerial rights, they need to negotiate with the trade unions and seek their co-operation as both face a common enemy, viz. the competitor. The market, rather class interests, will help consolidate bipartism. Trade unions have shelved their ideological approach and instead adopted a pragmatic approach. Adversities have disciplined both the parties and productive forms of bargaining are taking place (Shyam Sundar, 2008b; Venkata Ratnam, 2003). Trade unions make trade-offs necessary to protect the interests of their members. Bipartism cannot stand alone, and unions do not thrive when the state goes on the offensive; the classic voluntaristic unions in the UK and the US showed attrition when the state in both countries turned hostile. Political and social power needs to supplement voluntarism, not for state patronage, but to facilitate the creation of more effective pressure groups in a pluralistic set-up and to solve the systemic issues in the polity. 9. From Politics of Fragmentation to Politics of Aggregation and Consolidation From 1930 onwards, the union movement witnessed divisions based on politics, leadership, caste, gender, ideology, etc. The involuted and politicised union movement resulted in disillusionment, not only for critics but also for those in the labour movement and there have been two responses. Firstly, un-affiliated (enterprise unionism or independent unionism) and new forms of labour organisation (like SEWA) have been formed. But the limitations (militant internal leadership, economism, narrow class base, and absence of political power) of these forms of unionism became obvious to even the leaders of this form of unionism and there were two forms of aggregations: (a) at the group level (for example, federation of all unions in all branches of Hindustan Lever in India), which was sought to be broken by the employers (for example, the Hindustan Lever lockout in 1988), and (b) to form an all-india federation of independent unions, which did not take off in order to prevent the creation of more competing peak bodies. Secondly, there have been strains in the relationship between political parties and their labour wings. Politically affiliated unions (the CTUOs) have not, in recent times, toed the official or Party line, especially when the basic interests of the workers like employment security were targeted and the parties took a strong line (like issuing instructions to their labour wings to moderate militancy, desiring and introducing labour reform measures, and protecting

13 AGENDA FOR INDIAN TRADE UNIONS 1077 investments, etc.) (Shyam Sundar, 2005a; 2005b, and the references cited therein). There are three courses open to unions to restructure and modernise the union movement. These are: amalgamations and mergers of unions (both horizontally and vertically), dissociation from the political parties but not from the political process, and attempts to bring about co-ordinated wage bargaining. Three premises inform my suggestions. One, union concentration rather than union fragmentation is functionally helpful owing to the economies of scale (from the organisations point of view), better financial position (necessary in these days of high action), stronger political power and stronger control over the affiliates. Two, unions should, as far as possible, be independent of the political parties and yet be able to pursue political methods to achieve union objectives. While political unionism suffers from too much politics, unionism devoid of politics is not the answer. As Flanders once remarked, unions cannot do without politics. Three, there is enough evidence to show that co-ordinated wage bargaining, even in a decentralised bargaining structure, offers better labour market outcomes than the unco-ordinated and chaotic bargaining that takes place in India (Shyam Sundar, 2007b; forthcoming b). The world over, trade unions have been resorting to mergers and amalgamations to create super unions during the last decade and a half, to primarily arrest the decline in union strength and its financial and political power, though seen as a defensive strategy (Ebbinghaus, 2003; Waddington, 2006). Whether these measures have promoted union revival is questionable (ibid.), but organisational restructuring was beneficial in other aspects such as in reducing union pluralism since it is a corporate logic, the laying off of union staff may be the result of mergers or acquisitions. It is important because these measures cause a shift in the balance of power in the union movement and thus promote imitation behaviour. There are two tendencies that give hope in this regard. One, labour reform proposals or measures have brought the ideologically opposite unions together (the Shiv Sena and the Left unions in Maharashtra joined to defeat the Congress government s reform proposals in 2001, see Shyam Sundar, 2007a). The alliances are temporary and are marked by fluctuating trends in co-operation INTUC and BMS walk in and out as situations demand; the CITU holds on to its ideological superiority (Shyam Sundar, 2006, and the references cited therein). Two, the union movement is polarised along four pillars, viz. the Left-oriented unions (including the HMS), the BMS and the INTUC acting disparately but not joining the Left band, the state level political federations in some states joining the first two depending on political formulations, and the enterprise unions (which, at least in Mumbai, hold views similar to the Left-oriented ones). The scattering away of the Left since the early 1960s is too well-known to recount, though they have formed alliances for governance (marked by unease, for example, the Singur incidence in West Bengal). There have been conflicting signals as far as the merger between the CPI (M) and the CPI (see Financial Express, 2005; The Hindu, 2002). The historical allegation made in 1964 by the CPI is not easily forgotten (ibid.). Further, the ideologues well-versed in polemics make sharp distinctions between the Left ideologies that are not easily digestible to the workers. To wit, the devil lies in the details! The formations in the global union movement can be taken to form formations and alliances here. The Left-based unions can form a Mega Left Union Federation as: (a) all of them subscribe to WFTU and are thus are bound by it, (b) there is already a thriving alliance between them, and (c) the ideological differences between them are negligible, if any (Deshpande, 1984). The problem here is as to where the HMS should HMS stand? Although affiliated to ITUC, it has been a part of all Left-based agitations but is not affiliated to WFTU, though they are a part of the Left alliances. The BMS and the INTUC will retain their right of the centre position, though the INTUC uses class language (exploitation and inequality and nationalisation of industries). Alternatively, they should send signals to the