The Hindu Business Line : ITUC Report on Core Labour Standards in India

There is need for a transformation of the labour force in terms of education, skills, income levels and provision of social security to dovetail with the various components of the country's development agenda.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), founded on November 1, 2006, is the successor to the well-known International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) established in 1949 and dissolved on October 31, 2006. As per the ITUC web site, the Confederation has 304 national affiliates from 153 countries and represents 168 million workers. The Indian affiliates of the ITUC are the Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) and the Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA). The ITUC "calls on the workers of the world to unite in its ranks, to make of it the instrument needed to call forth a better future for them and for all humanity."

Workers of the world are not united, at least not yet. Just as we have in India more than one union at both firm and national level, the ITUC is not alone on the world arena. There is the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), established in 1945, in which India is represented by the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).

ILO's Core Conventions

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has, over the years, issued an array of conventions aimed at safeguarding the interests of men and women in the work force. The ILO Governing Body has identified eight Conventions as being fundamental to the rights of people at work, irrespective of levels of development of individual member-states. The core Conventions along with the year of adoption are: Forced Labour (1930), Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise (1948), Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining (1949), Equal Remuneration (1951), Abolition of Forced Labour (1957), Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) (1958), Minimum Age Convention (1973), and Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour (1999).

The Report on India

On May 23, coinciding with the India's trade policy review at the World Trade Organisation, the ITUC released its report, "Internationally Recognised Core Labour Standards in India: Report for the WTO General Council Review of the Trade Policies of India." A principal contention of the ITUC report is that India has not still ratified four of the eight Conventions of which the most significant are that on workers' right to organise and to collective bargaining. The Report acknowledges that the workers do have the legal right to organise, but this has been in effect curtailed by unions not being recognised by the employers.

As per a 2001 amendment to the Trade Union Act of 1926, a trade union has to represent at least 100 workers or 10 per cent of the workforce, whichever is less, compared to a minimum of seven workers previously. The Report opines that the minimum requirement of 100 workers is very high by international standards. While the ITUC is welcome to have its view about a free country like ours, the amendment ought to be looked at in the light of how much more fragmentation and divisiveness will prevail if reasonable membership strength is not to be placed as a consideration in organising a union.

It is important to recognise the simple fact that on the basis of the 10 per cent stipulation, there can be as many as 10 unions in a firm, which is perhaps one way unionisation divides the workers and finally does disservice to them. It would have been great if ICTU were to insist on a small number of two or three unions in any establishment and also struggle to achieve de-politicisation of the unions. As long as politics and unions go together, the `manifesto' might take control over all else.

The Report laments that, in practice, only a small group of workers, employed in the organised industrial sector, enjoys protection of its rights and that some 90 per cent of workers are employed in informal employment relationships or in agriculture, characterised by almost no union representation. The challenge is not one of enacting laws that look great on paper, but prioritising the various components of the country's development agenda. We need the transformation of the labour force in terms of education, skills, income levels and provision of social security. Unionisation per se will do little for all these.

The Report voices concern that `new employment sectors, such as call centres, the BPO industry, the visual media and telecommunications, are not covered by any explicit employment regulations, and employers obstruct the formation of unions'. The new sectors have come up simply because of on-going (much delayed) international division of labour, and it has not been smooth sailing. If anything, it is important that such institutions as the ITUC work to promote these kinds of division of labour first and then look to the pros and cons of unionisation.

The Report makes the important point that despite efforts to address the problems of child and bonded labour, they still prevail due to lax enforcement. It also refers to the position of Dalits: "More than 1.3 million Dalits are estimated to be still employed as manual scavengers." Some of these stigmas are inescapable for us as a nation.

Recommendations of the Report

The slim 16-page Report has one and half pages of `final conclusions and recommendations'. They are all worth looking into, even if the time is not right to implement some of them, given our developmental priorities. Thus, it is unlikely that there will be a large sympathetic constituency at home for recommendations such as fully extending the right to strike to public sector and removing the restrictions on the right to strike under the Essential Services Maintenance Act.

Recommendation 9 of the Report dwells on trade reform and passes the judgement that reform has led to an increase in the gender wage gap and that the government `should refrain from further reform without adequately addressing the vulnerability of women and to strengthen the position of women in the labour market.' We have no quarrel with the second part: yes, all measures must be in place to ensure the safety and security of women at the work place along with measures to make sure women are not exploited. It is difficult to agree, however, with the first part. We need jobs and more jobs, not only to take account of additions to the labour force, but also to take account of the demands of structural transformation. If jobs are growing as a result of trade reforms, we cannot stop in the middle.

There are, however, some recommendations that need to be reviewed and acted upon. Similarly, none can disagree with the recommendation that there is a need to collect better information and data on gender pay gaps. Recommendations on ending of child and bonded labour are very important.

End Note

The popular perception seems to be that union strength must have declined and will continue to decline in the globalising and services dominated Indian economy. The ground reality, however, seems to be different. According to the Central Labour Commissioner's verification report, quoted in the media towards the end of 2006, the central trade unions have all shown increased membership in early 2000s compared to the mid-1990s. The top five unions and the `verified' membership numbers are: The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) 6 million, INTUC 3.8 million, AITUC 3.3 million, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha 3.2 million and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) 2.6 million.

The total membership of all unions put together could be around 20 million, which, however, is meagre compared to the total labour force of close to 500 million men and women. Development priorities of the majority are as important if not more as the prerogatives and privileges of the unionised workforce.

(The author, formerly with the National University of Singapore and the World Bank, is Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam and Visiting Faculty, Sri Sathya Sai University, Prashanti Nilayam. He can be reached at bhanoji@gmail.com)

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