IR

Central Trade Union Organizations in India

1. All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)

 All India
Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was founded in 1920 with Lala Lajpat Rai as its first president. Upto
1945 Congressmen, Socialists, Communists worked in the AITUC which was the central trade union
organisation of workers of India. Subsequently the trade union movement got split on political lines.

 The
membership of the AITUC is 3.6 million. The unions affiliated to AITUC are from textile,
engineering, coal, steel, road transport, electricity board and of unorganised sector such as beedi,
construction and head-load workers, anganwadi, local bodies and handloom. Recently a number of
agriculture workers' unions have affiliated themselves to AITUC.

 The first
session of the AITUC was held under the president ship of Lala Lajpat Rai. In his presidential
address, he exhorted the workers:

 "Indian labour
should lose no time to organize itself on a national scale. Capital is organized on a world-wide basis.
It is backed up by financial and political strength, beyond conception. In order to meet the danger,
Indian labour will have to join hands with labour outside India also, but its first duty is to organize
itself at home".

 "At present,
our greatest need is to organize, agitate and educate. We must organize our workers, make them class-
conscious and educate them in the ways and interests of common weal."

Aim and Objectives

 To establish a
socialist state in India;
 To socialize
and nationalize the means of production, distribution and exchange as far as possible;
 To ameliorate
the economic and social conditions of the working class;
 To watch,
promote, safeguard and further the interests, rights and privileges of the workers in all matters relating
to their employment.

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University
IR

 To secure and
maintain for the workers :
 The freedom
of speech
 The freedom
of press
 The freedom
of association
 The freedom
of assembly
 The right of
strike ; and
 The right to
work or maintenance
 To co-ordinate
the activities of the trade unions affiliated to the AITUC;
 To abolish
political or economic advantage based on caste, creed, community, race or religion; to fight against all
forms of social oppression and injustice;
 To fight
against all forms of atrocities against women and harassment at place of work.
 The AITUC
shall endeavor to further the aforesaid objects by all legitimate, peaceful and democratic methods
such as legislation and, in the last resort, by strikes and similar other methods, as the AITUC may,
from time to time, decide.

2. Indian Trade Union Congress (INTUC)

Founding of the Indian Trade Union Congress (INTUC) on May 3, 1947, was historical imperative,
necessitated by forced ideologically opposed to peaceful change and democratic means, who had
maneuvered to get a hold on the Country's Trade Union Movement with the connivance of the then
British Rulers. At a time when the nation was poised to attain independence, the Trade Union
Movement was getting on a path of confrontation and wanton destruction to the detriment of the
workers and the nation. The imperative need for a new body with its roots in the Indian soil and lead
working class towards the realization of the long suppressed aspirations was keenly felt as never
before by a very large section in the Trade Union Movement, drawing inspiration from Gandhi's ideas
and thus was born the INTUC on the foundations of the Gandhian tenants of the Trade Union
movement. The constitution of INTUC was adopted in the second day's proceedings of the
conference; Mahatma Gandhi who was then in Delhi also blessed the new found trade union centre.

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University
IR

Objectives of INTUC
To place industry under national ownership and control in suitable form in order to realize the
aforesaid objectives in the quickest time.
To organize society in such a manner as to ensure full employment and the best utilization of its
manpower and other resources.
To secure increasing association of the worker in the administration of industry and their full
participation in its control.
To promote generally the social civic and political interest of the working class to secure an effective
and complete organization of all categories of workers, including agricultural labour.
To guide and co-ordinate the activities of the affiliated organizations.
To assist and co-ordinate the activities of the affiliated organizations.
To assist in the formation of trade unions.
To promote the organization of workers of each industry on a nation-wide basis.
To assist in the formation of Regional or Pradesh Branches or Federations.
To secure speedy improvement of conditions of work and life and of the status of the workers in
industry and society.
To obtain for the workers various measures of social security, including adequate provision in respect
of accidents, maternity, sickness, old age and unemployment.
To secure a living wage for every worker in normal employment and to bring about a progressive
improvement in the workers standard of living.
To regulate hours and other conditions of work in keeping with the conditions of the workers and to
ensure the proper enforcement of legislation for the protection and up-lift of labour.
To establish just industrial relations.
To secure redressal of grievances, without stoppages of work, by means of negotiations and
conciliation and failing these by arbitration or adjudication.
To take recourse to other legitimate method, including strikes or any suitable form of satyagraha,
where adjudication is not applied and settlement of disputes within a reasonable time by arbitration is
not available for the redress of grievances.
To make necessary arrangements for the efficient conduct satisfactory and speedy conclusion of
authorized strikes or satyagraha.
To foster the spirit of solidarity, service, brotherhood co-operation and mutual help among the
workers.
To develop in the workers a sense of responsibility towards the industry and community.
To raise the workers' standard of efficiency and discipline.

3. United Trade Union Congress

United Trade Union Congress is a central trade union organisation in India. UTUC is politically tied
to Revolutionary Socialist Party. Abani Roy is the general secretary of UTUC. According to
provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, UTUC had a membership of 383 946 in 2002.

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University
IR

UTUC was founded at an All India Labour Conference in Calcutta, May 1, 1949. The founding
president was professor K.T. Shah, a member of the Constituent Assembly from Bombay, and the
founding general secretary was Mrinal Kanti Bose, a former AITUC president from Bengal. At the
time of its foundation, Bose claimed that the organisation consisted of 236 unions with a combined
membership of 347 428.
4. Hind Mazdoor Sabha
HMS was founded in Calcutta during the trade union conference from 24th to 26th December 1948.
The conference was attended by the representatives of Indian Federation of Labour (IFL, founded in
1941), Hind Mazdoor Panchayat (HMP, founded in mid 1948), unions from the Forward Bloc (Party
set up by Sh. Subhash Chandra Bose) and other leading independent trade unions at that time. Over
600 trade union leaders participated, representing 427 unions with a membership of over 600000
workers. There were leaders like Jay Prakash Narayan, Sibnath Banerjee, R.A. Khedgikar and Ms.
Maniben Kara who represented the railway unions; Shri Dalvi and Sh Ramanujam attended on behalf
of Post & Telegraph employees; Miners were represented by Basawan Singh and P.B. Sinha , dockers
by Mallikarjuna Rao and P. D’mello while Textile workers were represented by R.S. Ruikar, Anthony
Pillai and P.S. Chinnadurai. There were also representatives of Government employees, Teachers,
Commercial employees, Port & Docks, Printing & Paper, Tobacco, Plantations and Sugar
Objectives
(A)A living wage to all work-people.
(B)Guaranteed right to work for every citizen
(C)The introduction of full social security measures to provide a basic income to all in need of such
protection and comprehensive medical care.
(D)Provision for adequate leisure in the form of reasonable hours of work and holidays with pay.
(E)Slum clearance and provision of adequate housing with facilities for recreation and culture.
(F)Introduction of free and compulsory primary education, provision for adult education and facilities
for vocational training.
(G)Adequate provision for child welfare and maternity protection.
(H)The effective recognition of the right of collective bargaining.
(I) Repeal of all legislation encroaching upon the fundamental rights of labour, such as right to strike,
freedom of association and assembly, freedom of speech, right to personal liberty and freedom of
movement.
(J)Nationalisation of key industries and banks.

12. The new conception of a trade union as a nationwide organisation functioning democratically and
aspiring to play a decisive role in the affairs of our country demand that the workers must be
adequately equipped to undertake this new responsibility. Workers must have sufficient education to
man the trade union offices, to grapple with the problems of national importance, economic as well as
political and to develop a breadth and clarity of vision necessary for running the affairs of the state.
Workers education capable of fulfilling this task must receive top priority from the trade union
movement.

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University
IR

13. The co-operative activity is an important wing of the trade union movement. It inculcates the
spirit of self-help and solidarity among the workers, the two vital principles on which trade unions are
based. The new central organisation will therefore forge the closest links with the co-operative
movement.
14. In the establishment of a free and equalitarian society a close link between the movement of the
working-class and the peasantry will be essential. With this end in view, this organisation will
endeavour to forge a united front of the toiling masses.
15. Those who seek to change the society, have first to change themselves. The span of the arch
depends upon the strength of the brick. The new trade union movement, through its constructive and
combative activities, its economic and political work, its educational and cultural efforts, will
strengthen the intellectual and moral fibre and make the worker a citizen worthy of the new
civilization of free and equal men that the great travail of our time is leading to.
Bharatiya Mazdoor Sabha

BMS was founded on 23 July 1955 – the day being the birth anniversary of Lok Manya Bal
Gangadhar Tilak – veteran of Freedom Movement. Two important aspects stand out in connection
with this:
(a) Formation of BMS was not the result of split in the existing trade union organisations, unlike in
the case of almost all other trade unions. Hence it had the formidable responsibility of building its
organisational structure from the grass root level. It started from zero having no trade union, no
membership, no activist (karyakarta), no office and no fund. (b) On the very first day it was visualised
as a trade union whose base-sheet anchors – would be Nationalism, would work as a genuine trade
union, keeping itself scrupulously away from party politics. This was also unlike other trade unions
which were linked to one or the other political party, overtly or otherwise.
Aims And Objectives
The aims and objectives of BMS are:
(a) To establish ultimately the Bharatiya order of society in which there shall be secured among other
things:
i. Complete utilisation of manpower and resources leading to full employment and maximum
production.
ii. Replacement of profit motive by service motive and establishment of economic democracy
resulting in equitable distribution of wealth to the best advantage of all individual citizens and of the
national as a whole.
iii. Development of autonomous industrial communities forming part and parcel of the nation,
culminating in ‘Labourisation of industry’
iv. Provision of work with living wage to every individual through maximum industrialisation of the
nation. (b) With a view to enable the workers to strive successfully for the ultimate realisation of the

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University
IR

above objects and to strengthen them, in the meanwhile, to make their own contribution to the cause
of protecting and promoting their interest consistent with those of the community:
v. To assist workers in organising themselves in trade unions as a medium of service to the
motherland irrespective of faiths and political affinities.
vi. To guide, direct, supervise and coordinate the activities of the affiliated unions.
vii. To assist the affiliated unions in the formation of state BMS units and Industrial Federations as
constituent units of the BMS and
viii. To bring about unity in the trade union movement. (c) To secure and preserve for the workers:
ix. The right to work, the right for security of service and for social security, the right to conduct trade
union activities and the right to strike as a last resort after having exhausted other legitimate methods
of trade unionism for redressal of grievances.
x. Improvement in conditions of work, life and social and industrial status.
xi. A living wage consistent with a national minimum and due share in the profits in their respective
industries as partners.
xii. Other appropriate amenities
xiii. Expeditious enforcement and appropriate amendment of existing labour legislation in their
interest and
xiv. Enactment of new labour laws from time to time in consultation with the labour representatives.
(d) To inculcate in the minds of the workers the spirit of service, cooperation and dutifulness and
develop in them a sense of responsibility towards the nation in general and industry in particular
(e) To educate the labour by organising worker’s training classes, study circles, guest lectures,
seminars, symposia, excursions etc., in cooperation with institutions and organisations having similar
aims and objects such as the Central Board of Workers Education. Labour Research Centre,
Universities etc., and also to maintain libraries.
(f) To publish or cause publication of journals, periodicals, pamphlets, pictures, books and many other
types of literature mainly concerning labour and their interests and to purchase, sell & circulate them.
(g) To establish, encourage and organise Labour Research Centres and similar activities.
(h) Generally to take such other steps as may be necessary to ameliorate the social, economic,
cultural, civic and general conditions of the workers. For sound health of workers and society BMS
has been against the use of any type of drugs, liquor, alcohol and smoking.
(i) To render assistance or to establish cooperative societies, welfare institutions, clubs etc., for the
overall welfare of the common man in general and the workers and their families in particular.
Center of Indian Trade Unions
Centre of Indian Trade Unions,1971- ( भारतीय ट्रेड यूनियन केन्द्र), CITU is a National level Trade
Union in India politically attached to the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The Centre of Indian

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University
IR

Trade Unions is today one of biggest assembly of workers and classes of India. It has strong
unchallengeable presence in the Indian state of Tripura besides a good presence in West Bengal and
Kerala. They have an average presence in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. In other states, it's
presence is very rare.
According to the provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, CITU had a membership of
3,222,532 in 2002.
AIMS AND OBJECTS
3. (A) The CITU believes that the exploitation of the working class can be ended only by socializing
all means of production: distribution and exchange and establishing a Socialist State. Holding fast the
ideal of socialism, the CITU stands for the complete emancipation of the society from all exploitation.
(B) The CITU fights:
(a) against all encroachments on the economic and social rights of workers and for enlargement of
their rights and liberties including the right to strike, for winning, defending and extending the
freedom of the democratic and trade union movements,
(b) for the recognition of trade unions on the basis of secret ballot,
(c) for the progressive improvement of wages, for reduction of working hours, for provision of decent
housing and improvement of the living conditions of the workers,
(d) for security of full employment, right to work and against the hazards of unemployment,
(e) for full and adequate social security legislation to protect the workers and their families against
sickness, accident and old age, providing adequate maternity insurance and pensions for widowed
mothers and dependent children, and every other type of social security, for effective control of the
worker subscribers over the Provident Fund and ESI Corporations,
(f) for equal wages for equal work,
(g) for the abolition of discrimination based on caste, like untouchability, on sex, and religion, in
relation to employment, wages and promotion,
(h) for the protection of the democratic rights of the minorities,
(i) for formation through election of committees in factories, workshops, business houses and other
places where collective work is performed, with a view to control conditions of work in these places,
(j) for proper vocational training,
(k) for elimination of illiteracy,
(l) for helping workers organize unions where none exists, for rallying the workers in a single union
by uniting the rival unions in one industry.

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University
IR

Dr. Saurabh Kumar

Mangalayatan University