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Introduction to Trade union

A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English) is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadershi , bargains with the em lo!er on behalf of union members (rank and file members) and negotiates labour contracts (collective bargaining) with em lo!ers. This ma! include the negotiation of wages, work rules, com laint rocedures, rules governing hiring, firing and romotion of workers, benefits, work lace safet! and olicies. The agreements negotiated b! the union leaders are binding on the rank and file members and the em lo!er and in some cases on other non"member workers. #riginating in Euro e, trade unions became o ular in man! countries during the Industrial $evolution, when the lack of skill necessar! to erform most %obs shifted em lo!ment bargaining ower almost com letel! to the em lo!ers& side, causing man! workers to be mistreated and under aid. Trade union organizations ma! be com osed of individual workers, rofessionals, ast workers, or the unem lo!ed. The most common, but b! no means onl!, ur ose of these organizations is 'maintaining or im roving the conditions of their em lo!ment'. #ver the last three hundred !ears, man! trade unions have develo ed into a number of forms, influenced b! differing olitical ob%ectives. Activities of trade unions var!, but ma! include(

Provision of benefits to members: Earl! trade unions, like )riendl! *ocieties, often rovided a range of benefits to insure members against unem lo!ment, ill health, old age and funeral e+ enses. In man! develo ed countries, these functions have been assumed b! the state, however, the rovision of rofessional training, legal advice and re resentation for members is still an im ortant benefit of trade union membershi . Collective bargaining: -here trade unions are able to o erate o enl! and are recognised b! em lo!ers, the! ma! negotiate with em lo!ers over wages and working conditions. Industrial action: Trade unions ma! enforce strikes or resistance to lockouts in furtherance of articular goals.

Political activity: Trade unions ma! romote legislation favourable to the interests of their members or workers as a whole. To this end the! ma! ursue cam aigns, undertake lobb!ing, or financiall! su ort individual candidates or arties (such as the .abour /art! in Britain) for ublic office.

#b%ectives of trade union


Trade unions are formed to rotect and romote the interests of their members. Their rimar! function is to rotect the interests of workers against discrimination and unfair labor ractices. Trade unions are formed to achieve the following ob%ectives( Representation Trade unions re resent individual workers when the! have a roblem at work. If an em lo!ee feels he is being unfairl! treated, he can ask the union re resentative to hel sort out the difficult! with the manager or em lo!er. 0nions also offer their members legal re resentation. 1ormall! this is to hel eo le get financial com ensation for work"related in%uries or to assist eo le who have to take their em lo!er to court. Negotiation 1egotiation is where union re resentatives, discuss with management, the issues which affect eo le working in an organization. There ma! be a difference of o inion between management and union members. Trade unions negotiate with the em lo!ers to find out a solution to these differences. /a!, working hours, holida!s and changes to working ractices are the sorts of issues that are negotiated. In man! work laces there is a formal agreement between the union and the com an! which states that the union has the right to negotiate with the em lo!er. In these organizations, unions are said to be recognized for collective bargaining ur oses. Voice in decisions affecting workers The economic securit! of em lo!ees is determined not onl! b! the level of wages and duration of their em lo!ment, but also b! the management2s ersonal olicies which include selection of em lo!ees for la! offs, retrenchment, romotion and transfer. These olicies directl! affect workers. The evaluation criteria for such decisions ma! not be fair. *o, the intervention of unions in such decision making is a wa! through which workers can have their sa! in the decision making to safeguard their interests.

Member services 3uring the last few !ears, trade unions have increased the range of services the! offer their members. These include( Education and training 4ost unions run training courses for their members on em lo!ment rights, health and safet! and other issues. *ome unions also hel members who have left school with little education b! offering courses on basic skills and courses leading to rofessional 5ualifications. !egal assistance As well as offering legal advice on em lo!ment issues, some unions give hel with ersonal matters, like housing, wills and debt. "inancial discounts /eo le can get discounts on mortgages, insurance and loans from unions. #elfare benefits #ne of the earliest functions of trade unions was to look after members who hit hard times. *ome of the older unions offer financial hel to their members when the! are sick or unem lo!ed.

Trade 0nion in India


The trade union in India develo ed 5uite slowl! as com ared to the western nations. Indian trade union movement can be divided into three hases.

The first hase (6789 to6:99)


3uring this hase the ince tion of trade unions took lace. 3uring this eriod, the working and living conditions of the labor were oor and their working hours were long. ;a italists were onl! interested in their roductivit! and rofitabilit!. In addition, the wages were also low and general economic conditions were oor in industries. In order to regulate the working hours and other service conditions of the Indian te+tile laborers, the Indian )actories Act was enacted in 6776. As a result, em lo!ment of child labor was rohibited. The growth of trade union movement was slow in this hase and later on the Indian )actor! Act of 6776 was amended in 67:6. 4an! strikes took lace in the two

decades following 6779 in all industrial cities. These strikes taught workers to understand the ower of united action even though there was no union in real terms. *mall associations like Bomba! 4ill"<ands Association came u b! this time.

The second hase (6:99 to 6:=>)


This hase was characterized b! the develo ment of organized trade unions and olitical movements of the working class. Between 6:67 and 6:?@, man! unions came into e+istence in the countr!. At Ahmedabad, under the guidance of 4ahatma Aandhi, occu ational unions like s inners2 unions and weavers2 unions were formed. A strike was launched b! these unions under the leadershi of 4ahatma Aandhi who turned it into a sat!agrah. These unions federated into industrial union known as Te+tile .abor Association in 6:?9.In 6:?9, the )irst 1ational Trade union organization (The All India Trade 0nion ;ongress (AIT0;)) was established. 4an! of the leaders of this organization were leaders of the national 4ovement. In 6:?>, Trade union law came u with the efforts of 4r. 1 1 Boshi that became o erative from 6:?C. 3uring 6:?7, All India Trade 0nion )ederation (AIT0)) was formed. The third hase began with the emergence of inde endent India (in 6:=C). The artition of countr! affected the trade union movement articularl! Bengal and /un%ab. B! 6:=:, four central trade union organizations were functioning in the countr!( 6. ?. @. =. The All India Trade 0nion ;ongress, The Indian 1ational Trade 0nion ;ongress, The <indu 4azdoor *angh, and The 0nited Trade 0nion ;ongress

The working class movement was also oliticized along the lines of olitical arties. )or instance Indian national trade 0nion ;ongress (I1T0;) is the trade union arm of the ;ongress /art!. The AIT0; is the trade union arm of the ;ommunist /art! of India. Besides workers, white"collar em lo!ees, su ervisors and managers are also organized b! the trade unions, as for e+am le in the Banking, Insurance and /etroleum industries.

Trade unions in India


The Indian workforce consists of =@9 million workers, growing ?D annuall!. The Indian labor markets consist of three sectors( 6. The rural workers, who constitute about >9 er cent of the workforce. ?. #rganized sector, which em lo!s 7 er cent of workforce, and @. The urban informal sector (which includes the growing software industr! and other services, not included in the formal sector) which constitutes the rest @? er cent of the workforce. At resent there are twelve ;entral Trade 0nion #rganizations in India( 6. All India Trade 0nion ;ongress (AIT0;) ?. Bharati!a 4azdoor *angh (B4*) @. ;entre of Indian Trade 0nions (;IT0) =. <ind 4azdoor Eisan /ancha!at (<4E/) 8. <ind 4azdoor *abha (<4*) >. Indian )ederation of )ree Trade 0nions (I))T0) C. Indian 1ational Trade 0nion ;ongress (I1T0;) 7. 1ational )ront of Indian Trade 0nions (1)IT0) :. 1ational .abor #rganization (1.#) 69.Trade 0nions ;o"ordination ;entre (T0;;) 66.0nited Trade 0nion ;ongress (0T0;) and 6?.0nited Trade 0nion ;ongress " .enin *arani (0T0; " .*)

Advantages of Trades 0nions


Increase wages for its members Industries with trade unions tend to have higher wages than non"unionized industries. Represent #orkers Trades 0nions can also rotect workers from e+ loitation, and hel to u hold health and safet! legislation. Trades unions can give re resentation to workers facing legal action. Productivity deals Trades 0nions can hel to negotiate roductivit! deals. This means the! hel the firm to increase out ut, this enables the firm to be able to afford higher wages. Trades unions can be im ortant for im lementing new working ractices which im rove roductivit!. Important for $ervice $ector 4odern economies have seen a fall in trade union ower. This is because of a decline in manufacturing and rise in service sector em lo!ment. *ervice sector %obs tend to more likel! to be art time and tem orar!, unions are needed to rotect workers in these kinds of %obs.

/roblems of Trades 0nions


1) Ignore

non Members Trades unions onl! consider the needs of its members, the! often ignore the light of those e+cluded from the labor markets, e.g. the unem lo!ed. 2) !ost Productivity% If unions go on strike and work un roductivel! (work to rule) it can lead to lost sales and out ut. Therefore their com an! ma! go out of business and be unable to em lo! workers at all. 3) #age Inflation% If unions become too owerful the! can bargain for higher wages, above the rate of inflation. If this occurs it ma! contribute to general inflation. /owerful trades unions were a significant cause of the 0E&s inflation rate of ?CD in 6:C:.

The benefits of trades unions de end on their circumstances. If the! face a mono hon! em lo!er the! can hel counterbalance the em lo!er2s market ower. The! can increase wages without causing unem lo!ment. If unions become too owerful and the! force wages to be too high, then the! ma! cause unem lo!ment and inflation it also de ends on whether the! coo erate with firm or not on increasing roductivit!.

Trade unions and industrial relations


A number of com le+ legal relationshi s fall under the heading of industrial relations, including the legal status, rights, and obligations of trade unions and em lo!ers2 organizations, collective bargaining and collective agreements, the re resentation of em lo!ees at lant and enter rise level (including %oint consultation and, where it e+ists, codetermination and other forms of workers2 artici ation in management, even to the e+tent of workers2 re resentation on com an! boards), and the revention and settlement of various t! es of labor dis utes in general and of strikes and lockouts in articular. There are wide variations both in the e+tent to which such matters as the re resentative character and ca acit! of trade unions, their legal status, the obligation to recognize and bargain with them, the enforceabilit! of collective agreements, the sco e of activities ermitted to trade unions, and their obligations in contract and tort are sub%ect to legal rules and in the content of such rules. In the 0nited *tates, for instance, there is a considerable bod! of law on these sub%ects, the most im ortant enactments being the 1ational .abor $elations Act of 6:@8 (the -agner Act) and the .abor 4anagement $elations Act of 6:=C (the TaftF<artle! Act), in the 0nited Eingdom the law has hitherto remained marginal to most of these trade union issues, e+ce t for legislation of 67C6, 67C8, and 6:9>, which had rovided certain Gimmunities,H or G rivileges,H as the! are sometimes called, for trade unions, articularl! in connection with trade dis utes. .egislation enacted in the earl! 6:79s restricted some of these immunities or rivileges, the trend being to e+ and the role of law in laborFmanagement relations to reduce the increasing disru tion caused b! industrial conflict in a com le+ societ!. <ow to reconcile freedom of association and collective bargaining with the stabilit! and growth of the econom! remains the most challenging and difficult roblem of labor law.

<ow does trade union influence industrial relationsI


A trade union gives a rofessional businesslike view on current labor our dealings with a com an!. #ften an individual is not verball! skilled to do this so management erceives this to be naivete and not im ortant in ut to decision making for the com an! where as union officials are rofessional negotiators At minimum it at least shows the concern of the eo le who work under a manager -eather decisions need to be tightened loosened or the managers abilit! is ut in 5uestion will be e+amined and ho efull! an im roved outcome is reached

Integrative ;ase *tud!( The -hite Aoods #rganisation Introduction


The -hite Aoods organisation is art of a ma%or grou of com anies that sells fuel"burning a liances in industrial, commercial and domestic markets. At the time the events in this case took lace, it was not a com an! in its own right but a division of a larger organisation called ;om lete Energ! *!stems. The division dealt onl! with the domestic market (households) and two other divisions dealt res ectivel! with industrial and commercial markets. The case a ears in two arts, both dealing with a ro osed reorganization. The first art sets the scene b! describing the situation that led u to the ro osed reorganization and art two describes management ro osals for the reorganization itself and the reactions of grou s of staff and individuals to the ro osals. It is im ortant to stress that while a trade union la!s a rominent art in events. Therefore, while reactions to management2s ro osals largel! surfaced through the trade union, it is the reactions themselves on which !ou should focus !our

attention, rather than the industrial relations as ects. .ike most industrial relations issues involving negotiation, management2s motives and considerations were largel! unknown to the trade union, which had to deal with the information rovided b! management at face value. 1or was management riv! to a great deal of what went on behind the scenes between the trade union and its members. Therefore, unless the case e+ licitl! states that something was revealed b! one art! to the other, !ou should assume that it was known onl! to the art! concerned.

&'e (ackground to t'e Proposals In the earl! 6::9s management in the 3omestic *ales division announced lans for a reorganization and rior to this the division had remained much the same for about si+ !ears. -ith the e+ce tion of the sales manager all ersonnel were trade union members, a hangover from the time when it was art of a nationalized industr!. $elations with the trade union were good and there was a ver! constructive industrial relations climate. At the time the stor! o ens, management were about to hold a reliminar! meeting with the trade union branch secretar! to outline their reorganization ro osals and get some idea of the likel! reactions of staff. -hat follows is a descri tion of the division u to the time the ro osals were made. The structure of the division is shown in )igure I;6, which also gives the numbers of ersonnel. An outline descri tion of roles and duties dealing with each of the four legs of the structure is given in what follows. Technical Sales This art of the division dealt with s ecialist sales, too com le+ for showrooms to handle. If a com lete fitted kitchen was sold for e+am le, the showroom would take the en5uir! and ass it to this de artment for a technical re resentative to call, measure u and s ecif! the %ob. An! otential sale that re5uired technical investigation and s ecification before su l! would also be handled b! this section. The onl! e+ce tion was central heating s!stems, which were covered b! another art of the division. A technical sales officer was in overall charge, under whom were three team leaders, each of which was in charge of four technical re resentatives who made most of the calls on customers. *ince these em lo!ees

had to be mobile, all were classified as essential car users, and received a generous allowance to rovide and run their own vehicles. New Buildings This art of the division was res onsible for sales of e5ui ment and s!stems (including central heating) to builders( that is, new house develo ments. In charge was the new buildings officer, under whom were three team leaders, each looking after a designated geogra hic area. Each team leader had four new buildings re resentatives, who carried out the ma%orit! of the direct contact with builders. Again mobilit! was im ortant and car allowances were aid.

Central Heating Sales This section took care of sales of one"off central heating s!stems to rivate householders. It was headed b! the central heating sales officer, su orted b! two team leaders who dealt with an! technical matters and controlled a number of subordinates. The central heating re resentatives were ure sales ersons and non" technical F their %ob was to call on ros ective customers and get orders. 3esign and s ecification of the s!stem was carried out b! the installations de artment, which was located in another division of the com an!. Although the sales re s obviousl! needed to be mobile the! did not receive a car allowance. Instead the! drew a ver! low basic salar! but were aid e+tremel! high commission (a ro+imatel! J79 for each s!stem sold). Showrooms The area showroom officer was in charge of all showrooms (retail outlets) and showroom ersonnel. Immediatel! beneath this erson were three sector officers, each of whom controlled four showrooms. *howrooms varied in size and volume of business and there was an average of seven em lo!ees in each one. *howroom managers were in overall charge of each outlet and the staff therein. The larger showrooms had a senior sales assistant (effectivel! an assistant manager) and, in addition, each one had a number of sales assistants, 79 er cent of whom were female. A ro+imatel! >9 er cent of all sales assistants were art"time workers on ?9 hours er week contracts. 0suall! the! lived near the showroom, and generall! worked on *aturda!s, lus three half"da!s er week, according to local trading atterns. *howrooms were o en si+ da!s er week.

In terms of erformance the division was fairl! successful. It worked to an overall annual targeted level of sales revenue, and while the target was raised each !ear so far it had alwa!s been achieved. The overall target was s lit down into targets for the four legs in the structure. )or three of these legs it was s lit further for sectors, and for retail outlets it was broken down even further into individual targets for each showroom. /erformance against target was monitored on a monthl! basis at all levels. *taffs were well trained in their s ecialist activities and regularl! received u date training in new roducts and rocedures. 4anagers and su ervisors were also involved in team briefings, which took lace monthl!. Thus staff in each of the four legs in the structure tended to kee to their own s ecialist areas and, even when a sales cam aign took lace, it was ver! rare for staff in one area to work alongside those from another. As events during and rior to the ro osed reorganization revealed, sales eo le had been ver! isolationist with res ect to other grou s of staff in the organisation, and this e+tended to their involvement with the trade union. Indeed, because the! were in the limelight most of the time, the! seemed to consider themselves a cut above the rest of the membershi of the union and to regard themselves as far more aligned with management, although their earnings were lower than most em lo!ees of ;om lete Energ! *!stems. An e+am le of their Ksu eriorit!2 arose four months rior to the announcement of the ro osed changes, when a de artment in another function was facing a reorganization that was felt b! the staff concerned to be e+tremel! threatening. The members of this de artment had a ealed at an o en branch meeting for hel in Kblacklisting2 management2s ro osals, and the onl! ma%or grou of staff who refused to give su ort were the domestic sales members, who effectivel! argued that Kmanagement knows best2. 4oreover, because the different grou s of staff had views of each other that were none too com limentar!, feelings were not much better within the division, and certain things came to light when the trade union began consulting its members about management2s ro osals. )or instance, central heating salesmen were universall! disliked b! most showroom staff, who regarded them as definitel! not Kgentlemen2, but Kfl!"b!"night2, Kfoot"in"the"door2 t! es with no decorum whatsoever. )or their art, the central heating sales re s were e5uall! dis araging about showroom staff, whom the! looked u on as Kstuck"u snobs2, with ideas be!ond their station. This was com ounded b! the fact that most central heating sales re s, who were free agents and %udged urel! on their levels of sales, were allowed to get sales in whatever wa! the! chose, and often had earnings that were twice as much as those of showroom staff.

;oca";ola Alobal 0nethical Behavior( case stud!


The ;oca";ola ;om an! established itself as a remier beverage business b! ma+imizing its roduction and distribution throughout the world. These strong roduction efforts were met with e5uall! effective marketing cam aigns which led to it becoming the biggest beverage com an! in the world. 3ue to these accom lishments, man! of ;oca";ola&s controversial labor and business ractices have been overlooked b! man! in the general ublic. <owever, more eo le are becoming aware of these dis utes due to student and activist unions ressuring some of the largest and well"known universities in the 0nited *tates to ban ;oca" ;ola roducts. These educational institutions include the 0niversit! of 4ichigan, 1ew Lork 0niversit!, $utgers 0niversit!, and *anta ;lara 0niversit!. Although the banning of ;oke roducts in these universities re resents onl! a small ercentage of the ;oca";ola ;om an!&s sales, it has done much harm to their re utation. This case discusses the allegations against the ;oca";ola ;om an!, as well their res onses to them. ;oca";ola has been battling activists and trade union grou s in different countries for !ears. In ;olombia, the! have been accused of hiring aramilitar! death s5uads to kidna , intimidate, or kill its union leaders and other workers at its bottling lants. This is sus ected due to the fact that eight union leaders of these lants have been murdered, and man! others claim to have been abducted and tortured. Additionall!, the ;oca";ola ;om an! faces more o osition in India for draining the underground water table, selling beverages containing harmful esticide residues, and distributing sludge containing to+ic chemicals as fertilizer to farmers

in Eerala.

Trade unions call for nationwide bandh, #ver 699 flights cancelled in Eolkata
1ine ma%or trade unions have called for a ?="hour long nationwide bandh to rotest against rice rise and other issues like disinvestment of ublic sector, retrenchment and entr! of foreign ca ital in retail market. Eolkata seems to be the worst"hit due to the strike as of now, with more than 699 flights cancelled b! ma%or carriers. The strike came %ust two months after the BB/ brought the countr! to a stand"still in Bul! with its Bharat bandh call against escalating rices. Banking services are also likel! to be affected as the federations of bank em lo!ees %oined the strike. The $ailwa!s, however, is ke t out of the urview of the strike as $ailwa! 4inister 4amata Baner%ee has o osed the strike. The .eft )ront was su orting the strike called b! the trade unions but have urged eo le to kee it eaceful. '1earl! si+ crore workers artici ated in the strike across the countr!. Those em lo!ed in rivate sector also %oined the strike in man! laces,' AllIndia Trade 0nion ;ongress (AIT0;) Aeneral *ecretar! and ;/I 4/ Aurudas 3asgu ta told /TI. 'AIT0;, ;entre of Indian Trade 0nions (;IT0), the <ind 4azdoor *abha (<4*),

AI0T0;, T0;;, AI;;T0, 0T0; and federations of different categories of workers and em lo!ees artici ated in the general strike, which had been called b! ;oordination ;ommittee of ;entral Trade 0nions headed b! Indian 1ational Trade 0nion ;ongress (I1T0;) /resident A *an%eeva $edd!,' he said.'This is going to be biggest strike that ever ha ened in recent !ears in this countr! as after >@ !ears all the trade unions have come together on a common latform,' 3asgu ta claimed. All the 'branches of econom!' was affected due to strike as workers from sectors including coal, ower, telecom, banks, insurance, defence, ort and dock, road trans ort, etroleum and construction %oined the call, he said.

Trade unions earlier had drawn u a five" oint charter 'asking the government to curb the rice rise but nothing was done,' he charged. 'The trade unions have been agitating against disinvestment of ublic sector. The! (trade unions) were angr! because labour laws are being violated,' he said. Trade unions want massive investment for social securit! for unorganised labourers. '-e are also rotesting against %ob loss and contractualisation of %obs in the countr!,' he added. 3asgu ta said that the strike will not be the 'last thing'. If the situation does not im rove, workers will march to /arliament in )ebruar! ne+t !ear. 'Trade unions cannot be marginalised. The! must be heard. The! want social %ustice, reasonable share of the wealth workers roduce. That&s all,' he added. BB/"affiliate Bharti!a 4azdoor *angh (B4*), however, has ke t itself awa! from the strike call. 'B4* was not artici ated in the strike as it is oliticall! motivated and not for the welfare of workers,' vice resident of 3elhi unit of the union Eiran 3utta said. *trike <its Eolkata )lights Airline carriers have indicated that Eolkata is likel! to be the worst hit because of the ?="hour long all"India strike announced b! central trade unions. 4ore than a 699 flights to and from Eolkata have been canceled b! ma%or carriers. Bet Airwa!s (along with its low cost carrier Betlite) have cancelled C9 flights in all, Eingfisher has cancelled ?: and * ice%et and Indigo have canceled ?9 flights each.

Air India has rescheduled several flights and there ma! be cancelations, de ending on the situation on the ground.

Trade 0nions call for all"India strike


Anger against government over rice rise is set to hit the common man !et again as the trade unions affiliated with ma%or olitical arties of India have called for a nationwide strike. Trade unions affiliated with the ruling ;ongress too have %oined the rotest against soaring rices as well as the decision to rivatise rofit making ublic sector undertakings (/*0s). The workers in the countr! are anguished over certain olicies of the central government,' said $ ;handrasekharan, national secretar! of the trade union arm of the ;ongress art!, Indian 1ational Trade 0nion ;ongress (I1T0;). All the ma%or trade unions, including the Bharati!a 4azdoor *ingh (B4*), ;entre of Indian Trade 0nions (;IT0), the All India Trade 0nion ;ongress (AIT0;) and the <ind 4azdoor *abha (<4*) decided on holding the strike at a coordination committee meeting chaired b! I1T0; national resident A *an%eeva $edd!, 4r ;handrasekharan informed. '#ur ma%or demands include ro er im lementation of labour laws, immediatel! sto the rivatization of rofit making /*0s, rovide enough mone! for unorganized workers& social securit! fund and rovide %obs for the eo le who lost em lo!ment during the global economic meltdown,' ;handrasekharan said, adding that this is the first time in the Indian histor! that I1T0; had %oined the trade unions affiliated to other olitical arties in calling for an all"India strike.

B/# trade unions


This sector, thriving on the outsourced ro%ects, is full of carefree a !oung em lo!ee who are en%o!ing mone! and B/# lifest!le and that2s it. Till now the sector has been awa! from an! kind of unionism. But the bug is fast catching on here also. Trade unionism is entering the InfoTech bastions, reaching out to the low"wage sweatsho s that business rocess outsourcing outfits have become. The global 0nion 1etwork International has launched a new organisation that targets workers in Indian back"offices. The ;entre for Business /rocess #utsourcing /rofessionals has been launched in <!derabad and Bangalore and will be formall! registered in August. The centre has alread! begun talks with B/# outfits in 1oida, ;hennai, 4umbai and /une. The organisation claims to have about ?99 members and e+ ects its ranks to swell to more than 8,999 b! !ear"end. The rise of a trade union in B/# s ace has s ooked the industr!, which has alread! been under fire in the 0* and Euro e for s iriting awa! %obs to the sub"continent. *ome e+ erts sa! that this could kill the B/# boom in the countr!, which even the owerful India"bashing lobb! in the 0*, has not managed. '#ver the last few !ears, the B/# segment has emerged as a ma%or foreign e+change earner. Arowing trade unionism will kill this industr!.' The centre does not term itself a union, but its mandate is not much different. '-e are not a union, it is an old word, we are a forum. The centre will be registered as a forum affiliated to the 0nion 1etwork International, linked to the International ;onfederation of )ree Trade 0nions. 4a%or Indian trade unions are members of the latter, which will make the centre another union. <e also said that the B/# industr! is unregulated and has man! roblems. The managements do not take care of the workers& health or fi+ ro er working hours. There is no %ob securit!. *alar! structure, %ob securit! and the future of workers in an organisation are on the agenda.

Indian trade unions rotest inflation, corru tion


Tens of thousands of trade union su orters marched through India&s ca ital to e+ ress frustration with high food rices and endemic corru tion. At least =9,999 demonstrators, some coming b! train from outside the ca ital, marched through the cit! toward /arliament, 3elhi Traffic /olice constable *ham .al said. #rganizers ut the number of rotesters at about 699,999. /artici ants came from trade unions linked with both the o osition ;ommunist /art! and the governing ;ongress /art!. 4an! carried red ;ommunist flags showing a hammer and sickle as the! made their wa! down streets decorated in ;ommunist /art! osters. The! chanted anti"government slogans accusing the government of failing to curb inflation and corru tion. The government has been rocked b! a series of scandals involving the sale of telecom licenses and the hosting of the ;ommonwealth Aames. Inflation, meanwhile, has remained stubbornl! high with the cost of vegetables u b! nearl! two"thirds in recent months M com ounding the hardshi s of India&s hundreds of millions living in overt!. The rall! caused ma%or traffic %ams in 1ew 3elhi, as officials closed roads and diverted shi ing trucks and buses.

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