Dynamics of Trade Unionism in India: Sociological Approach

This book takes a point of departure from the most sociological studies of trade unionism in that the hitherto existing studies have focused either on how workers in general and the trade union members in particular perceive and experience trade unionism and on the role and functions of top trade union leadership. Surprisingly enough, trade unions have not been studied from the vantage point of the changing needs and requirements of contemporary Indian society, which embarked upon creating a modern industrial society in the context of globalization and the process of structural readjustment. An attempt has been made in this book to examine the question, whether the preset-day trade unions have ever made any serious attempts to effect changes in their structure, functions, ideologies and strategies of action; largely the legacies of the past, in response to sweeping social economic and technological changes that have accompanied the worldwide process of globalization. And whether the trade union leaders particularly at plant level are at least ever really aware of the need for such changes. This book viewed in this way represents an attempt by the author to assess the perception of the public of the current trade unionism at the grass root level.