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영어

The Trade Unions Act, 1926 has some shortcomings in the provisions of formation and recognition of trade unions. They are (a) no provisions for statutory union recognition; (b) lack of the method for ascertaining union membership; (c) to allow the trade union to enroll outsiders as members; (d) no prescription of the time limit within which the Registrar of Trade Unions is to grant or deny registration, etc. The Government of India has, however, not exerted itself to correct these shortcomings for more than 80 years and has perpetuated a weak and divided labour movement. And moreover, as long as the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 gives to Labour Ministers or Chief Ministers the plenary power to settle industrial disputes, workers will continue to be dependent on outside politicians who have contacts at these Ministers. All this has seriously vitiated not only the trade unions but the industrial scene in India as a whole. Strikes and lock-outs are rampant, although they are almost always illegal. Occasionally there is violence and bloodshed.
The Government of India, as the owner of various public sector industries as well as major service industries, is to accept the trade unionism and immediately ratify the ILO Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize, 1948 and the ILO Convention on the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, 1949. For the first and foremost step to implement all the labour welfare laws as laid down in the ILO Conventions, it has to introduce at once the following changes in the Trade Unions Act: (a) de-linking trade unions from the clutches of politicians by not allowing outsiders to be members of the executive or office bearer of any registered trade union; (b) not to register workers trade unions having less than 15% of the total number of workers of the industry as its members; (c) to make provisions for compulsory recognition of trade unions by the employers; (d) to make provisions for time bound registration of trade unions; (e) to have a consolidated law which would deal with not only trade unions but also unfair labour practices and machinery of settlement of industrial disputes.