Trade Unions in India 2002

8/11/2019 Trade Unions in India 2002

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TRADE UNIONS IN INDIA 2002

CHAPTER-I

1.1 General Background

Development of modern industry, especially in the Western countries, can be traced back to the 18th

century. Industrial development in India on Western lines, however commenced from the middle of the

19th century. The first organised Trade Union in India named as the Madras Labour Union was formed in

the year 1918. Since then a large number of unions sprang up in almost all the industrial centres of the

country. Similarly, entrepreneurs also formed their organisations to protect their interests. In 1926, the

Trade Unions Act was passed by the Indian Government. The Act gave legal status to the Registered

Trade Unions. The Registrars of Trade Unions in different states were empowered to register the Trade

Unions in their respective states. These registered Trade Unions (Workers & Employers) are required to

submit annual statutory return to the Registrar regarding their membership, General Funds, Sources of

Income and Items of Expenditure and details of their assets and liabilities, which in turn submit

consolidated return of their state in the prescribed proformae to Labour Bureau.

The Labour Bureau on receiving the annual returns from different States/Union Territories, consolidates

the all India statistics and disseminates them through its publication entitled the Trade Unions in India

and its other regular publications.

1.2 Trade Unions Act, 1926 provides for the registration of the Trade Unions with the Registrars of

Trade Unions of their territory. Any seven or more members of a trade union by submitting their names

to the registrar of trade unions and otherwise complying with the provisions of the Act with respect to

registration may apply for the registration of the Trade Union under the Trade Unions Act. The Act gives

protection to registered trade unions in certain cases against civil and criminal action.

The Statistics presented in this review are based on the returns/reports received from the States/Union

Territories in the format provided for in the Act and the figures cover only the registered trade unions.

However the response rate from the States/Union Territories is not very encouraging. During 2002, only

21.0 percent of the registered trade unions from 17 States/Union Territories submitted the prescribed

returns to the concerned authority; who in turn have furnished the consolidated returns to the Bureau.


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CHAPTER-II

2. Growth of Trade Unions

2.1 Growth of Trade Unions (Workers' & Employers' Combined)

2.1.1 Year-wise number of Trade Unions and their Membership

Information relating to number of registered trade unions, number of unions submitting returns and

their membership from 1991 to 2002 is given in Statement 2.1. Out of total registered trade unions, only

7812 unions (11.5%) submitted their returns in the year 2002. The average membership per unions

decreased from 900 in 2001 to 893 in 2002.

2.1.2 State-wise number of Trade Unions and their membership

State-wise distribution of registered trade unions for the year 2002 is presented in Statement 2.2. It may

be seen from the statement that during 2002, only 18 States/Union Territories have submitted returns.

Among these States/Union Territories, Kerala accounted for the largest number of registered trade

unions (11,664) followed by Tamil Nadu (9,759). Out of the total of 38,092 registered unions, as many as

37,903 unions (99.5%) were of Workers Unions and remaining 189 unions (0.5%) were of Employer

Unions. Out of 37,903 Workers unions, 89.9 percent were State Unions and remaining 10.1 percent

were Central Unions. State Unions are those unions, whose activities/objectives are confined to the

boundaries of the state, while Central Unions have activities/objectives beyond a State boundary.

2.2 Growth of Workers' Unions 2.2.1 Number and Membership of Workers Unions

State-wise data in respect of workers registered trade unions submitting returns and their sex-wise

membership during 2002 is given in statement 3.1. During 2002, out of 37,903 registered unions only

7,734 unions had (20.4%) submitted the returns. The average membership per workers unions was 895

only.

2.2.2 State-wise distribution of Central Unions and State Unions


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Statement 3.1 also presents number and membership of workers trade unions separately for Central

Unions and State Unions. It may be seen from the table that during 2002, out of 7734 unions submitting

returns as many as 6869 (88.8 percent) were state unions and remaining 865 (11.2 percent) were

Central Unions. Out of the total membership of 69,23,507 persons, the membership of the State and

Central Unions was 60,64,205 persons (87.6 percent) and 8,59,302 persons (12.4 percent) respectively.

The state of Gujarat accounted for the highest membership (13,50,027 persons) followed by Assam

(12,68,151 persons) of State Unions. Women members accounted for 28.6 percent of the total

membership of State Unions. Amongst states, the membership of Women Workers was the highest

again in Gujarat (6,48,066 Persons) followed by Assam (4,11,913 persons). Amongst Central Unions of

workers, Tamil Nadu accounted for the largest membership of 7,12,935 persons followed by Gujarat (

85,101 Persons). Women members accounted for 15.0 percent of the total membership in Central

Unions.

2.2.3 Sex and Industry wise distribution of membership in Workers' Unions

Sex-wise and Industry-wise (3 digit level as per NIC 1998) number of workersunions submitting

returns and their membership for the year 2002 is presented in Statement 3.2. Summary of this

statement at major industry division (One digit level) is given below in Table I.

TABLE 1

Number and Membership of WorkersUnions By Major Industry Divisions for the year, 2002

Code

Industry Division

No. of Unions

submitting returns


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Membership

Men

Women

Total

1

2

3

4

5

A

Agriculture, Hunting, Forestry

310

683094

389589

1072686

(4.0)

(13.5)

(20.9)

(15.5)


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B

Fishing

24

10021

5162

15183

(0.3)

(0.2)

(0.3)

(0.2)


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C

Mining and Quarrying

181

153097

28467

181564

(2.3)

(3.0)

(1.5)

(2.6)


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D

Manufacturing

2798

1365258

355979

1721237

(36.2)

(27.0)

(19.1)

(24.9)

E

Electricity, Gas and Water

214

320712

16086

336798

(2.8)

(6.3)


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(0.9)

(4.9)

F

Construction

430

415568

144107

559675

(5.6)

(8.2)

(7.7)

(8.1)


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G

Wholesale and Retail Trade Repair of Motor Vehicles, Motor Cycles and Personal and Household goods

239

(3.1)

122854

(2.4)

6840

(0.4)

129694

(1.9)


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H

Hotels and Restaurants

96

19439

719

20158

(1.2)

(0.4)

(0.0)

(0.3)

I

Transport, Storage and Communication

1286

1125413

66740

1192153


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(16.6)

(22.2)

(3.6)

(17.2)

J

Financial, Inter-mediation

733

195831

34845

230676

(9.5)

(3.9)

(1.9)

(3.3)


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K

Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities

392

248433

568390

816823

(5.1)

(4.9)

(30.5)

(11.8)

L

Public Administration and Defence, Compulsory Social security


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263

127406

21842

149248

(3.4)

(2.5)

(1.2)

(2.2)

M

Education

69

5496

20697

26193


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(0.9)

(0.1)

(1.1)

(0.4)

N

Health and Social Work

92

35182

10237

45419

(1.2)


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(0.7)

(0.5)

(0.7)

O

Other Community, Social and Personal Service Activities

597

231085

193768

424853

(7.7)

(4.6)

(10.4)

(6.1)


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P

Private , House Holds with Employed persons

10

745

405

1150

(0.1)

(0.0)

(0.0)

(0.0)


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Q

Extra-Territorial Organisations and Bodies

-

-

-

-

TOTAL

7734

5059634

1863873

6923507

N.B. Figures in brackets indicate percentages to total.


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From Table 1 above it is seen thatManufacturing Groupaccounted for 36.2 percent of the total

number of unions submitting return followed byTransport, Storage and Communication(16.6

percent). The membership on the other hand was the highest inManufacturing group(24.9

percent) followed byTransport, Storage and Communication(17.2 percent).

The proportion of women membership in an industry group to total membership of women in all

industry groups combined together was the highest inReal Estate, Renting and Business Activities

(30.5 percent) followed byAgriculture, Hunting and Forestry(20.9 percent). The break up of

information at minor industry groups (up to 3-digit level of N.I.C. 1998) is given in Statement 3.2.

2.2.4 Workers Trade Unions in Public Sector

State wise statistics pertaining to the number of WorkersUnions submitting returns and their

membership in Public Sector separately for State Sphere and Central Sphere for the year 2002 is given in

Statement 3.3. It may be seen from the statement that public Sector accounted for 33.3 percent of

unions and 32.9 percent of the membership in total workers unions submitting returns. Out of 2576

unions submitting returns in the Public sector 717 (27.8 percent) unions were in the Central Sphere.

Membership of Trade Unions in the State Sphere and Central Sphere was 13,40,340 persons and

9,34,359 persons respectively.

2.3 Employers Unions

2.3.1 State-wise number of EmployersUnions on register submitting returns and their membership

are given in Statement 4.1. In 2002, out of 189 registered Employers Unions, 78 unions (i.e. 41.3%) had

submitted returns. All the employers, trade unions submitting returns were State Unions. These unions

had a membership of 49,815 persons. Out of which 42,535 (85.4%) were men and remaining 7,280

(14.6%) were women. The average membership per employers union was 639.


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The industry wise breakup of employers unions submitting returns is given in Statement 4.2. It may be

seen from the statement that the highest number of Employers Unions submitting return was (26) in

Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities(industry code K) followed byManufacturing Group

(16) industry code D The highest membership was reported inManufacturing Group(21,584

persons) followed byFinancial Intermediation(11196 persons) industry code J.


CHAPTER-III

3. Finances of Trade Unions

3.1 General Funds

Information relating to financial position of registered Trade Unions submitting returns (i.e. Opening

Balance, Income, Expenditure and Closing Balance) for the year 1991 to 2002 are presented in

Statement 5.1. During 2002 all the 7,812 Trade Unions submitting returns had an income of 66.61 Crores

against which an expenditure of Rs.56.84 Crores were reported.

3.2 Income and Expenditure of WorkersUnions

State-wise and Industry-wise statistics on Income and Expenditure of workers Unions submitting returns

during 2002, classified according to Central and State Unions are presented in Statements 5.2 and 5.3

respectively.

During 2002, total Income and Expenditure of all workers unions was 62.55 Crores and 53.40 Crores

respectively. The income and expenditure of Workers Central Unions was 18.16 Crores and 15.92 Crores

respectively. The remaining income and expenditure of 44.38 Crores and 37.49 Crores respectivley


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pertained to State Unions. The highest income and expenditure of both State and Central Unions was

reported in Tamil Nadu.

3.3 Income and Expenditure of Employers Unions

State wise and Industry wise Income and Expenditure of Employers trade unions are given in Statement

5.4 and Statement 5.5 respectively. As may be seen from Statement 5.4, all the unions submitting

returns were State Unions. Income and Expenditure of these unions was Rs.404.19 lakhs and Rs.341.70

lakhs respectivley. Among states Karnataka reported maximum Income and Expenditure of Rs.346.58

lakhs & Rs. 293.71 lakhs respectively. Among Industries, maximum Income and Expenditure was

reported in industry group "Financial Intermediation" followed by "Manufacturing".

3.4 Sources of Income of Trade Unions

State-wise and Industry-wise statistics on Sources of Income of trade unions, for workers Trade Unions

and Employers Trade Unions are given in Statements 5.6 to 5.9. For easy comparison, a summary of

component wise sources of Income of both workers and employers union is given below in Table II

TABLEII Percentage Distribution of Income of Workersand EmployersUnions by Sources during2002

Sl. No.

Sources of Income

Percentage of Income

WorkersUnions

EmployersUnions


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Central Unions

State Unions

Central Unions

State Unions

1

2

3

4

5

6

1

Contribution from Members

42.6

Documents

Trade Unions in India 2002