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Securing Labour Rights in a Globalising Economy : The Case of India - 19/07/2007 19:23 This thread discusses the Content article: Securing Labour Rights in a Globalising Economy : The Case of India

Thanks for this extremely informative piece of writing, and especially for your point about labour legislation only applying to 8% of the population. I have a question, though. I understand that the government last year completed the first stage of a new survey of trade union membership, and that this showed (from union reports) that membership has increased hugely since the last such survey. I am aware that there is a long verification process before anything is confirmed, but I also note that unions have been reporting membership figures even higher than the ones they gave in the census last year. Are there any solid figures available on union membership in India, or is there anywhere where one can access the preliminary results of the government's survey?
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Re:Securing Labour Rights in a Globalising Economy : The Case of India - 16/08/2007 09:59 The Government of India's Registrar of Trade Union, as per the provisions of the Trade Unions Act, undertakes an membership verification exercise with a view to certify a confederation as a central trade union organisation [CTUO] as also to find the most representative confederation of trade unions. This exercise only includes who are affiliated to one or the other CTUOs and that they have filed the annual mandatory returns under the Trade Union Act. Those filing annual returns constitute about 12% of about 65,000 registered unions in India.

In the above background the projected increase in trade unions’ membership could be on the grounds of [i] that more unions have filed their mandatory returns to the registrar of trade unions as also to be included in the valid membership list of the CTUO; and [ii] there had been serious effort to enlist new membership in the informal sector, in particular agriculture, shops and other services establishments.

As a case has been filed in the Kolkata court disputing the results of the present membership verification exercise, the result of the same remain not declared. However the unofficial figures of five largest CTUOs are: Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh [BMS] 2.7 million; Indian National Trade Union Congress [INTUC] 2.4 million; Centre of Indian Trade Unions [CITU] 1.7 million; Hind Mazdoor Sabha [HMS] 1.4 million; All India Trade Union Congress [AITUC] 0.9 million.
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