Trade unions
Topic: Employment, Unemployment and Informalisation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 6 "Employment: Growth, Informalisation and Other Issues"
Meaning
Trade unions are organisations of workers. Workers join together so that they can bargain with employers for better wages, working conditions and social security. One worker alone has little power, but a union speaks for many. Mainly organised-sector workers form unions. The Trade Unions Act 1926 governed them, and it is now part of the Industrial Relations (IR) Code.
Example
In Ahmedabad, the textile-mill workers' union bargained for secure jobs and good wages. It also ran welfare activities for workers' families. When the mills closed, workers who were pushed into informal work lost this protection.
Don't confuse with
- Collective bargaining: this is the process in which employers negotiate with groups of workers over wages and benefits. A trade union is the organisation that usually carries out that bargaining.
Related concepts
- Organised sector
- Unorganised sector
- Job security
- Overtime
- Paid leave
- Provident fund
- Gratuity
- Pension
- Social security
- Collective bargaining