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.
TRADE UNIONS IN INDIA 2002

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
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 workers unions 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 Workers Unions By Major Industry Divisions for the year, 2002

Code
Industry Division
No. of Unions

submitting returns


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)








B
Fishing
24
10021
5162
15183



(0.3)
(0.2)
(0.3)
(0.2)








C
Mining and Quarrying
181
153097
28467
181564



(2.3)
(3.0)
(1.5)
(2.6)








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)
(0.9)
(4.9)








F
Construction
430
415568
144107
559675



(5.6)
(8.2)
(7.7)
(8.1)








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)








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



(16.6)
(22.2)
(3.6)
(17.2)

J
Financial, Inter-mediation
733
195831
34845
230676



(9.5)
(3.9)
(1.9)
(3.3)








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
263
127406
21842
149248



(3.4)
(2.5)
(1.2)
(2.2)








M
Education
69
5496
20697
26193



(0.9)
(0.1)
(1.1)
(0.4)








N
Health and Social Work
92
35182
10237
45419



(1.2)
(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)








P
Private , House Holds with Employed persons
10
745
405
1150



(0.1)
(0.0)
(0.0)
(0.0)








Q
Extra-Territorial Organisations and Bodies
-
-
-
-









TOTAL
7734
5059634
1863873
6923507

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



From Table 1 above it is seen that Manufacturing Group accounted for 36.2 percent of the total
number of unions submitting return followed by Transport, Storage and Communication (16.6
percent). The membership on the other hand was the highest in Manufacturing group (24.9
percent) followed by Transport, 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 in Real Estate, Renting and Business Activities
(30.5 percent) followed by Agriculture, 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 Workers Unions 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 Employers Unions 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.

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 by Manufacturing Group
(16) industry code D The highest membership was reported in Manufacturing Group (21,584
persons) followed by Financial Intermediation (11196 persons) industry code J.



TRADE UNIONS IN INDIA 2002

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 Workers Unions
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
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

TABLE II Percentage Distribution of Income of Workers and Employers Unions by Sources during
2002



Sl. No.
Sources of Income
Percentage of Income

Workers Unions
Employers Unions

Central Unions
State Unions
Central Unions
State Unions

1
2
3
4
5
6

1
Contribution from Members
42.6