A century after the Trade Unions Act, 1926, the promise of worker protection in India remains unfulfilled. Critically examine the structural and administrative factors responsible for this gap.

The Trade Unions Act, 1926 (Act 16 of 1926) gave registered unions immunity from civil suits and criminal conspiracy charges, and allowed any seven members to register a union [1]. Its achievement was decriminalisation of collective action rather than empowerment — a distinction that explains why legal recognition has not translated into substantive worker power.

Structural factors

• Informality: the overwhelming majority of India's workforce is unorganised, while union protections historically attached to formal industrial establishments — the law bypasses those most exposed.
• Fragmentation: the low seven-member registration threshold [1] encouraged multiplicity of small unions, diluting bargaining strength.
• New forms of work: the Code on Social Security, 2020 defines "gig" and "platform" workers and funds schemes through aggregator contributions of 1–2% of annual turnover, but PRS notes the categories overlap and remain vague [2]; recognition is for welfare, not collective bargaining.
• International commitments: India has not ratified ILO Conventions 87 and 98 on freedom of association and collective bargaining [3], leaving the normative floor incomplete. Article 19(1)(c) itself is subject to reasonable restrictions.

Administrative factors

• Implementation lag: the four Codes were brought into force in November 2025, yet central and most State Rules await notification and draft Rules were re-opened for consultation [4] — a gap between legislative intent and delivery, worsened by labour being a Concurrent subject.
• Narrowed industrial action: the Industrial Relations Code requires 14 days' notice for strikes in all establishments and bars them during conciliation and for 60 days after tribunal proceedings [5].
• Representation gap: sole negotiating union status needs 51% membership and council participation 20%, though registration requires only 10% [5].

The credit side is real — 29 laws consolidated, gig workers acknowledged in statute for the first time. Fulfilling 1926's promise now needs prompt notification of Rules, simplified union recognition, and extension of bargaining rights to platform work, so that freedom of association under Article 19(1)(c) becomes an operative right, not a centenary memory.