The Role of the Trade Union Leader in India

1974 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Ramaswamy
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
South India ◽  
Union Leader ◽  
Primary Role ◽  
Textile Workers ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Political Interests ◽  
Union Leaders

Key offices in most trade unions in India are held by "outsiders" who do not belong to the trade or industry from which the members are drawn. The outsiders have marked political loyalties, with the result that almost every trade union in the country owes explicit allegiance to a political party. The partisan leanings of the outsiders have often been taken to mean that their primary role as union leaders is to seize on every available opportunity for making political gain. This paper, based on an intensive study of a textile workers' union in South India, contends that the outsiders, notwithstanding their partisan leanings, may be vitally involved in furthering their members' job-related interests. The purely trade union activities of the outsiders are divided into three broad categories. The nature of the grievance, the power wielded by the outsiders in its settlement, the pressures they can bring on the management, and the role they play differ significantly among these three categories. But in none of these is any attempt made by the outsiders to bring in their political interests. Imparting an ideological color to industrial disputes is neither necessary nor useful. While the outsiders do use their union base to further their political interests, they keep trade unionism and politics as discrete spheres of activity.

scholarly journals Brazilian Trade Unions

2009 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lang ◽  
Mona-Josée Gagnon
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Leader ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Heavy Body ◽  
Labour Relations ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Labour Legislation

Many analysts of Brazilian industrial relations share a determinist vision of the country’s trade unionism, according to which the unions maintain a paradoxical yet atavistic relationship with the heavy body of laws that provide them with advantages while limiting their freedom. We tested this vision by conducting field enquiries into the daily activities of two Brazilian unions: the ABC Metalworkers Union and the Seamstress Union for the Sao Paulo and Osasco Region. In this article, we present the results of our case studies and what they reveal about Brazilian trade unionism’s relationship with the labour legislation. We also briefly discuss former trade union leader and current President Lula’s recent attempts to reform the country’s labour relations system.

scholarly journals Social Conflict and Trade-Union Organisation in the Catalan Cotton Textile Industry, 1890–1914

1991 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angel Smith
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Textile Industry ◽  
Labour Force ◽  
Cotton Textile ◽  
Textile Workers ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Labour Costs ◽  
General Strike

SUMMARYThe article deals with the development of Catalan cotton textile trade unionism between 1890 and 1914. It has been argued that, given the economic difficulties which faced the cotton textile industry, employers were anxious to cut labour costs and unwilling to negotiate with trade unions. Between 1889 and 1891, therefore, they launched an attack on trade-union organisation within the industry. In many rural areas they were able to impose their will with relatively little difficulty. In urban Catalonia, however, they faced stiffer opposition. The state's response to labour unrest was not uniform. Nevertheless, at crucial moments the authorities supported the mill owners' assaults on labour organisation. The result was to radicalise the cotton textile labour force. This could be seen in the growing influence of socialists and anarchists in the textile unions' ranks, and in the increasing willingness of the textile workers to use general strike tactics.

scholarly journals Rethinking Strategy for Gender Equality in Trade Unions

2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 29
Author(s):  
Indrasari Tjandraningsih
Keyword(s):  
Women Workers ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Improvement Program ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
Strategic Role ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Trade Union Organization

<p class="p1">The non-strategic role and position of women workers in trade union organization, even in the women-dominated sector, is hardly changed even though the number of women members of trade unions is increasing. Various programs have been carried out to increase the strategic role of women in trade union organizations but so far have not shown significant results. Based on interviews with officers of gender equality programs for trade unions, union leaders and women and men members and literature studies this paper offers an idea of the need for a non-exclusive approach and actively and proportionally involving men in awareness-raising and gender equality programs for trade unions. This idea is based on the fact that in trade unions gender-related program is always left to or only involves women. The strategy in the gender equality awareness and improvement program that only involves women causes the program’s effectiveness to be low because half of the causes of the problem is not involved.</p>

Challenges of Trade Union Movement in India

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Ravinder Jit
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Physical Work ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
The Face

The trade union movement in India is facing many challenges. The finances of the unions are generally in a bad shape. Multiplicity of unions and inter-union rivalry makes it difficult to take a constructive approach to problems and issues. Heterogeneity of membership renders the unions unstable, weak, fragmented, uncoordinated and amorphous. Besides this, majority of unions are managed by professional politicians and lawyers who have no experience of physical work and no commitment to the organization. These outside leaders may give precedence to their personal interests and prejudices than welfare of the workers. Development of internal leadership is also not encouraged by unscrupulous politicians in the garb of union leaders. Keeping in mind all these challenges various scholars and practitioners have suggested certain measures to strengthen trade union movement in India. Developing internal leadership, presenting a united labor front for bargaining, ensuring financial stability of unions, having paid full time union office bearers, extending the boundaries of trade unions to unorganized sector and ensuring strong central legislation for recognition of representative union are some of the measures that can change the face of trade unionism in India.

scholarly journals Uma análise weberiana da gestação das estruturas de dominação em sindicatos

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 01
Author(s):  
Antônio Santos-Silva ◽  
Antonio Carvalho Neto
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Social Relation ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Political Repression ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
Weberian Theory

This paper presents the report of a survey that aimed to investigate the role of union leaders in gestation structures of domination in Brazilian unions adopting an interpretative Weberian analysis. Weberian concepts, such as domination, social relation and legitimacy were articulated to explain, in a qualitative approach, the internal social relations within trade unions. The exploratory analysis of 26 interviews conceded by trade union leaders allowed the identification of five groups of orders that constitute maxims and rules of action among the union leaders. This paper focuses on the documental analysis of 115 documents looking for evidence of the domination structures genesis. The documents revealed that these structures go back to the trade union training process, especially from the decade 1970s. The data analysis was structured in five groups of orders: ethics; political repression; ideology; mistrust between parts; and validity of laws. The study concluded by the pertinence of the adoption of the interpretative Weberian approach to explain the action of administrative staff (as in Weber, the influential individuals on the decision making process within the organization) related to the making and preservation of the structures of domination, confirming the Weberian theory.

The Workers’ Opposition and the Specialists

2019 ◽  
Vol 53 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 5-23
Author(s):  
Barbara C. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Educational Institutions ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
Secondary Literature ◽  
Soviet State ◽  
Technical Personnel ◽  
Union Leaders

Abstract While Vladimir Lenin found it necessary to depend upon and support technical and managerial specialists who had been trained in pre-revolutionary educational institutions, the Bolsheviks were never comfortable with this dependency. Under Iosif Stalin, the specialists were vilified, persecuted, marginalized, and eventually replaced by highly specialized technical personnel trained in Soviet educational institutions. This article examines the attitudes toward specialists held by leading members of the Workers’ Opposition, a group of communist trade union leaders who promoted the economic management role of workers through their trade unions. In Western secondary literature, the stance of the Workers’ Opposition toward specialists is sometimes misunderstood or oversimplified. In correcting such errors, I will show that Stalin’s motivations for repression directed against engineers and technicians during the First Five-Year Plan should be sought elsewhere than in the attempt to expand the role and prominence of workers in the party bureaucracy and industrial administration of the new Soviet state.

scholarly journals ‘Women take care and men take charge’: The case of leadership and gender in the Public and Commercial Services Union

2020 ◽  
pp. 0143831X2094368
Author(s):  
Julie Prowse ◽  
Peter Prowse ◽  
Robert Perrett
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Style ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Union Leader ◽  
The Public ◽  
Union Leadership ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Union Leaders ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Survey Responses

This article presents the findings of a case study that aimed to understand the specific leadership styles that are valued by women and men lay representatives in the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) and to determine the gendered implications for increasing women’s leadership and representation in trade unions. Survey responses from PCS lay representatives (reps) show the majority of women and men agreed that the leadership style they value, and that makes a good union leader, is post-heroic (communal) leadership. This approach is associated with leadership characteristics such as being helpful, sensitive and kind and are generally practised by women. This contrasts with male union leaders who are associated with a traditional, heroic (agentic) leadership style characterised by confidence, self-reliance and decisiveness. Although some differences exist that highlight gender issues, both women and men lay reps have positive attitudes towards increasing women’s representation and participation in union leadership.

Globalisation and the dilemmas of international trade unionism

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-42 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Gumbrell-McCormick
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Labour Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
Economic Developments

This article presents the author's reflections on the possibilities of a restructuring of the international trade union movement, on the basis of a collective research project to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) which seeks to open a debate within the movement over the lessons to be learned from its history as a guide for its future action. The most important question facing the trade union movement today is what is generally called 'globalisation', a phenomenon that goes back many years, both in terms of economic developments and labour struggles. From this perspective, the paper examines the basis for the existing divisions of the international labour movement, before going over the work of the ICFTU and of the International Trade Secretariats (ITSs) to achieve the regulation of the multinational corporations and of the international economy, and concluding on the prospects for unity of action in the unions' work around the global economy.

scholarly journals How to beat the boss: Game Workers Unite in Britain

2020 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 523-529 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Woodcock
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
International Network ◽  
Trade Unionism

This article provides an overview of the growth of game worker organising in Britain. These workers have not previously been organised in a trade union, but over the last 2 years, they have developed a campaign to unionise their sector and launched a legal trade union branch. This is a powerful example of so-called ‘greenfield’ organising, beyond the reach of existing trade unions and with workers who have not previously been members. The article provides an outline of the industry, the launch of the Game Workers Unite international network, the growth of the division in Britain as well as their formation as a branch of the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain. The aim is to draw out lessons for both the videogames industry, as well as other non-unionised industries, showing how the traditions of trade unionism can be translated and developed in new contexts.

British Trade Unions and European Union Integration in the 1990s: Politics versus Political Economy

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 332-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gerard Strange
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Trade Union ◽  
Trade Unions ◽  
Economic And Monetary Union ◽  
Trade Union Movement ◽  
Trade Unionism ◽  
Union Movement ◽  
British Trade ◽  
Careful Assessment

This article evaluates the changing assessments within the British trade union movement of the efficacy of European Union integration from the viewpoint of labour interests. It argues that there has been a marked further ‘Europeanisation’ of British trade unionism during the 1990s, consolidating an on-going process which previous research shows began in earnest in the mid 1980s. A shift in trade union economic policy assessments has seen the decisive abandonment of the previously dominant ‘naive’ or national Keynesianism. While there remain important differences in economic perspective between unions, these are not such as would create significant divisions over the question of European integration per se, the net benefits of which are now generally, though perhaps not universally, accepted. The absence of fundamental divisions is evident from a careful assessment of the debates about economic and monetary union at TUC Congress. The Europeanisation of British trade unionism needs to be seen within the context of an emergent regionalism, in Europe and elsewhere. It can best be understood as a rational response by an important corporate actor (albeit one whose national influence has been considerably diminished in recent decades) to globalisation and a significantly changing political economy environment.

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