Trade unions and collective bargaining
A trade union is a continuous association of wage earners to protect their interests. Collective bargaining lets unions and employers negotiate terms jointly instead of individually.
Theories of trade unionism
| Theory | Proponent | Key idea |
|---|---|---|
| Industrial democracy | Sidney and Beatrice Webb | Unions bring democracy into industry through collective bargaining |
| Revolutionary (class struggle) | Karl Marx | Unions are tools to overthrow capitalism |
| Job-conscious (scarcity of opportunity) | Selig Perlman | Workers unite because jobs are scarce, and unions control job opportunities |
| Reaction to the machine | Frank Tannenbaum | Unions arise as workers' response to mechanisation and loss of control |
| Functional types | Robert Hoxie | Business, uplift, revolutionary, predatory and dependent unionism |
| Gandhian | Mahatma Gandhi | Trusteeship and moral uplift; the Ahmedabad Textile Labour Association (Majoor Mahajan Sangh), 1920 |
Central trade union organisations
| Organisation | Founded | Link |
|---|---|---|
| AITUC | 1920 | Oldest; now linked with the CPI |
| INTUC | 1947 | Indian National Congress |
| HMS | 1948 | Socialist in origin |
| BMS | 1955 | Founded by Dattopant Thengadi; linked with the RSS family |
| CITU | 1970 | CPI(M) |
Union law and problems in India
- The Trade Unions Act, 1926 provided for registering unions and gave them rights and immunities; it is now part of the Industrial Relations Code, 2020, in force from 21 November 2025.
- Registered unions are immune from criminal conspiracy charges and civil suits for legitimate trade-union acts.
- The IR Code provides for a negotiating union or negotiating council to bargain with the employer.
- Weaknesses of Indian unions: multiplicity and rivalry, political affiliation, outside leadership, small size, weak finances and low membership.
- Union security forms: closed shop, union shop, agency shop, open shop and check-off (dues deducted from pay).
- India has not ratified the ILO's core conventions on freedom of association (C87) and collective bargaining (C98).
Collective bargaining
| Aspect | Key points |
|---|---|
| Meaning | Negotiation on wages and working conditions between employers and workers' organisations, aimed at a written agreement |
| Walton and McKersie (1965) | Four sub-processes: distributive bargaining, integrative bargaining, attitudinal structuring, intra-organisational bargaining |
| Distributive vs integrative | Win-lose over a fixed pie vs win-win problem-solving that enlarges the pie |
| Chamberlain's three concepts | Marketing (sale of labour), governmental (industrial government) and managerial (joint decision-making) |
| Levels | Plant level, industry level, national level |
| Agreements | Bipartite agreements, settlements reached in conciliation, consent awards, productivity agreements |
The collective bargaining process
Disputes over how an agreement is applied go to grievance handling or arbitration.
NET asks you to match union theories with proponents, order the central unions by founding year, and name Walton and McKersie's sub-processes of bargaining.
Typical MCQ: “Who coined the term 'collective bargaining'?” Beatrice Webb (then Potter), in 1891. Trap: the 'industrial democracy' view belongs to Sidney and Beatrice Webb together.
Typical MCQ: “Name Walton and McKersie's sub-processes of bargaining.” Distributive, integrative, attitudinal structuring and intra-organisational bargaining. Trap: there are four, not three.
Central unions in order: AITUC 1920, INTUC 1947, HMS 1948, BMS 1955, CITU 1970: 'All Indians Hear Bold Calls'.