CH-I: TRADE UNIONS: CONSTITUTION AND

MECHANISM
Trade Unions are organized body of workers that work collectively to
achieve the common objective of enhancement of conditions of
workers in any given industry. The primary function of trade unions is
viewed to safeguard the economic and legal interests of the
employees in any organization and to ensure that the norms of
fairness, equality and social justice are upheld in favour of each
1
employee. From the employees' perspective, trade unions are
expected to not only protest against any violation perpetuated by the
management of the various rights of the employees but also to engage
in bargaining with the management in order to strive continually for a
better end of the deal for employees in terms of working conditions,
contractual rights, rewards and sanctions, as well as exercise of
2
control over the work situations.

PURPOSE OFA TRADE UNION

It had been well accepted that in order to ensure protection of the
rights of the workers and to promote their interests, the unions need to
3
be organized within the norms of organizational responsibility. The
result of either collective bargain or protest, whichever method is
adopted, should ideally transpire in the form of agreed rules,
procedures and acceptable practices such that they are capable of
4
guiding the conduct of relations at the workplace in future. The
policies that are arrived at and followed at various levels throughout
the organization through the collaborative work of the members of the
trade union and their say in the affairs of the larger community and
the social practices are only an extension of the primary responsibility
that the union has of protecting and upholding the rights and interests
of the employees.
Trade unions, thus, are essentially designed on the foundation of the
elementary principle of democratic logic in order to contribute a
countervailing force expressing voice on behalf of the employees in
5
the manner and conduct of employment relations at a workplace.
Trade unions are voluntary organizations and consequently are
expected, and reasonably so, to govern themselves in a democratic
manner. This expectation arises from the very raison d'être of the
labour movement which emerged in the background of the need to
check the monopoly
1
C S Venktata Ratnam, ‘Trade Uni0ns and Wilder Society’ (2007) 42(4) Indian
2 3
Journal of Industrial Relations 621.
 ibid 623.
 Alan Bogg, Democratic Aspects 0f
Trade Union Recognition (Bloomsbury 2001) 44.
4
ibid 45.
 5 Venkata Ratnam (n 1) 622.

of the management over control in the work place and its dominating
hand in employment relations. With the growing influence of trade
unions in the power structure, politics surrounding the union has also
arisen as a practical concern. However, despite under such active
attention, union democracy seems to be escaping the framework of
the functioning of the trade unions.
The phenomena of undemocratic practices increasingly creeping into
the organizational structure of trade unions and its method of
operations were recognized and protested against by the British
workers which led to significant changes being brought in during the
6
1970s. The law in Britain was amended to tackle the problems arising
from centralised government, national collective bargaining and an
increasingly high degree of office autonomy with respect to a passive
7
membership in the unions. The changes were made with an objective
of developing more democratic forms of government, bargaining
without collusions for individual interests and an active member
participation in the union activities and decision making. This move
was undertaken to benefit the workers who were part of such trade
unions where the general character was such that the workers did not
possess any control over the labour market and thus, were dependent
8
on the collective bargaining done by the union officials.
Consequently, the administration in such unions and the terms of
bargaining were monopolized by a small group of officials who were
appointed in the backdrop of a passive membership. Thus, it was
sought to balance the distribution of power in the internal structure of
the trade unions with introducing specific union rules and norms
Shifting the focus to the Indian industrial regime, something similar is
witnessed under the labour law governing union norms. Under the
Trade Union Act, 1926, the trade unions which seek to be registered
under the Act are required to adhere to certain thresholds of
9
democratic structure. The Act mandates certain minimum procedures
to be provided for expressly in the rules adopted by the trade unions
before they are entitled to registration under the Act. Under the law,
the rules need to specify the manner in which the executive members
of the trade union are to be appointed and the procedure for their
removal. Another aspect of democracy which the law seeks to bring is
the requirement to provide the procedure to be followed for alteration
of the rules of trade unions once they are been registered and are
working bodies in order to
6
Paul Smith, ‘Change in British Trade Unions Since 1945’ (1995) 9(1) Work,
Employment & Society 137, 141. 7 ibid 137.
 8 ibid 138.
 9 Trade Union Act 1926,
s6.

safeguard the interests of its members and prevent self-perpetuating

practices among the office bearers.
An example of such a rule can be seen in the rules and bye-laws of a
certain trade union operating in Karnataka which provides for the
election of the office bearers and the members of the executive
committee to be undertaken directly by the membership biennially as
10
per the election rules. The bye laws also provide that the executive
committee is required to meet every month at least once in order to
scrutinize the performance of the union, the accounts and chalk out
11
design of further work. This is only an example of the manner in
which the rules of trade unions are formed to ensure compliance with
the Act. Similar rules can be found in the bye-laws of most of the
trade unions.