I think evolution of union movement amplifies not only the industrial landscape of a nation but also to some explains the nature of the people who participate in it. As a reporter, I have covered the labour-management issues as a routine.  However I never took sides — which is pretty much what any sensible editor must be happy about. Just write what you see was the brief. But, because you don’t get to write what you “feel” does not mean that you stop feeling and go around like a robot eating and vomiting everything you see/hear.

Here is what I really think about the union-management clashes in India. In very broad terms it sucks. Since it takes both hands to make any sound I would say both sides — labour and management — take the blame for the ugly scenes we see when they clash.

Look at recent history. In September 2008, Lalit Kishore Choudhary, the 47-year-old chief executive officer of Graziano Transmissioni India, died in the hands of some sacked employees. A year later Roy J George, vice-president (human resources) at Pricol, is was beaten to death by some workers. Earlier this month Ajeet Yadav a employee in Ricoh Auto Industries was killed that led to the day long protest by workers on October 20 in Gurgaon.  To me that brought back memories of the July 2005 clash between the Honda workers and the police, that had sent a handful of the workers to the hospital. And the one tragedy that takes the cake is the brutal killing of union leader and former MP Dutta Samant in January 1997. I have even heard of a case in a plant near Chennai when a bunch of workers, unhappy with the canteen food, poured an entire drum of saambar over an HR executives head!

I think its time we said enough is enough.  There has to be a more “humane” and sensible ways to deal with this very old problem. Luckily we do have some examples like in the UK we can take a look at.

There are several unions in the UK like GMB and Unite, just as we have in India (AITUC, BMS or CITU). There is a superbody under which most unions come under called the Trade Union Congress (TUC). Philosophically the TUC is closer to the ruling Labour party. Its chief Brendan Barber admits that much. But no financial link for sure, he says. That makes the TUC and its affiliated bodies pretty much independent of any political agenda. Not a day goes by when I don’t get a mail from the GMB or one such union communicating their perennial fight with some management or a local body somewhere in the country which pretty much tells how busy they are.

When I called some of the union members and staffers before writing this blog, I was told, without a trace of doubt, there has not been a single untoward incident that led to someone getting killed in a clash between management and labour.

But this has not been the case always. Historically the union movements have shown their ugly and darker side in the UK as well. The mid-Seventies and Eighties had been the dark age in the union movement when this country witnessed the famous (coal) miners’ strike. Tory leader and former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during her heydays had put the militant forces to rest. Violent clashes triggered by labour-management differences is history now. Today the parties on either side of the table debate, argue and negotiate intensely. Industrial action (or lock-out as we understand) is the last card unions play (postal workers strike). Managements for their part don’t jump at their first chance to trim workforce during difficult times. Recessionary periods have shown several intermediary solutions like pay freeze, pay cuts, temporary shut down of plants, re-deployment, voluntary layoff before someone is given a pink slip with a golden handshake. Unions for their part are not docile either. They take their message to the streets quite often, well supervised by the police and without any sign of violence or causing any nuisance to common public.

Yet its not a perfect world in the UK either. Follow this link and you will get a good idea.
http://survey09.ituc-csi.org/survey.php?IDContinent=4&IDCountry=GBR&Lang=EN

In India, the unions have a long laundry list of their demands. Top on this list is the “hire and fire at will” policy some managements are accused of. The grey area is of course the way “temporary” or contract workers are treated. To be fair, managements hire people under this category precisely because they can be dispensed with when they are not needed.
http://survey09.ituc-csi.org/survey.php?IDContinent=3&IDCountry=IND&Lang=EN

The challenges trade unions face in India are not unique. The International Trade Union Confederation in its 2009 Survey points out at fundamental rights violations in 143 countries and that 76 trade unionists were killed due to their actions to defend workers’ rights. A total of 50 serious death threats were recorded across seven countries as well, along with some 100 cases of physical assaults across 25 countries. Columbia continues to be the terror spot for unionists. India is definitely a far better place for those holding up the red flag.

It would however be fair to say that the differences are many. Some of these issues might never get resolved. But that does not mean that we start killing each other. That is plain stupid. As generation of leaders fade and new ones emerge, we might continue to deal with the same problems and pass them on to the next generation. As time goes by, there is a good chance that we might learn to respect each others position and evolve as more tolerant and patient human beings. Until we see this evolution happen, I think we will simply prove only one point. Charles Darwin was wrong.