What is Trade Union?

The trade union is an association, either of employees or

employers or of independent workers. It is a relatively permanent
combination of workers and is not temporary or casual.

Trade unions or labour unions are governed by the different law in

different countries; they should follow the procedure and mode of
registration for formation of the trade union according to the law of
the country.

Trade Union Definition

“ Voluntary organizations of workers formed to promote and
protect their interest by collective action.” Sri V.V.Giri

Statutory Definition of ‘Trade Union’ in Indian

Context

The term ‘trade union’ has been defined under Section 2(h) in the
Trade Unions Act, 1926. Accordingly, ‘trade union’ means any
combination, whether temporary or permanent, formed primarily
for purpose of regulating the relations between workmen and
employers or between workmen and workmen or between
employers and employers or for imposing restrictive conditions on
the conduct of any trade or business and include any federation of
two or more trade unions.

Provided that this Act does not affect:

 Any agreement between partners as to their own business.
  Any agreement in consideration of the sale of the goodwill
of a business or of instruction in any profession, trade or
handicraft.

This definition is similar to that of the definition of the trade

union as defined under the Trade Unions Act, 1871 in
England.

Objectives of Trade Union

The major objectives of trade union are the following:

1. Better wages & working conditions and promotion of

Industrial peace
2. Protection against Exploitation and Victimization.
3. Representation (Workers’ Interests)
4. Negotiation (Collective Bargaining)
5. Member Service (Education, Training, Welfare,
6. Legal support (Discounts, Loans)

Functions of Trade Union

Militant Function
One set of activities performed by trade unions leads to the
betterment of the position of their members in relation to their
employment. The aim of such activities is to ensure adequate wages
secure better conditions of work and employment get better
treatment from employers, etc.

When the unions fail to accomplish these aims by the method of

Collective bargaining and negotiations, they adopt an approach and
put up a fight with the management in the form of strike, boycott,
gherao, etc.

Hence, these functions of the trade unions are known as militant or

fighting functions. Thus, the militant functions of trade unions can
be summed up as:

• To achieve adequate wages and better working conditions

• To raise the status of workers as a part of industry
• To protect labours against injustice.

Fraternal Functions
Another set of activities performed by trade unions, they also
arrange for legal assistance to its members, if necessary. Besides,
these, they undertake many welfare measures for their members,
e.g., school for the education of children, library, reading-rooms,
indoor and out-door games, and other recreational facilities. Some
trade unions even undertake publication of some magazine or
journal.

These activities, which may be called fraternal functions, depend on

the availability of funds, which the unions raise by subscription
from members and donations from outsiders, and also on their
competent and enlightened leadership.

Thus, the fraternal functions of trade unions can be summed up as:

• To take up welfare measures for improving the morale of workers
• To generate self confidence among workers
• To encourage sincerity and discipline among workers
• To provide opportunities for promotion and growth
• To protect women workers against discrimination

Types Of Trade Union

Three types of labour unions are:

1 – Craft-Based Union

Daily wage earners of different occupations form this union to safeguard

their interests, bring uniformity, hike their labour charges, and stand
united against exploitation by businesses or individuals. Making a labour
union gives them immense bargaining power and strength of unity in the
eyes of society, businesses, and individuals like all the people who are
engaged in the profession of plumbing come together and form a
plumber’s union or electrical trade union. However, the union is weak
and cannot fulfil trade union objectives more often than not.

2 – Industrial Union

This type of union is formed by manual labour, semi-skilled labour, and

skilled and highly skilled workers in one single industry like the iron &
steel industry at the plant level, regional level, or industry level.

It gives great adaptability to new technology, better-negotiating salary

and working conditions with the employer, and advocacy of better labour
policies from the industrial body and the government. It also prevents the
unauthorized and mass layoffs of workers from their jobs illegally.
3 – General Union

It is a union body created by all the types of unions like craft unions and
industrial unions to have one central body in the shape of the national
trade union congress. The central body has much more power to
negotiate with the industries, management, and government so that the
members of the union get good treatment, better salaries, healthy
working conditions, and call a nationwide strike in case of any injustice
of the employees without due legal course

Weakness of Trade Union

1. Limited Membership:
Many workers do not enrol themselves as members of any trade union.
Membership is mostly confined to urban areas and there also it does not
cover all the workers of the organization. Trade unionism, it is rightly
said, has only touched a fringe of the working class in India.

2. Domination of Political Parties:

Political parties today dominate the trade unions in India. To achieve
their narrow and selfish political motives, the real character of trade
unions cannot be adhered to. Political rivalry strikes the true spirit of
trade unionism and, unfortunately, the workers suffer.

3. Small Size of Trade Unions:

The size of trade unions in India is not satisfactory, it is rather small and
thus it does not possess, with limited membership and small size, they do
not have the required man-power and financial strength to continue their
struggle against the oppression of the employer.
4. Lack of Unity:
The trade unions not only have limited membership and small size but
also there is multiplicity of unions working in a particular industrial
undertaking. This leads to division among workers; unity — which is the
core of trade unionism — suffers seriously.

5. Inadequacy of Finances:
Another weakness of the trade unions in India is the inadequacy of
finances. Funds are limited because of low membership fee, many are
defaulters; so, when needs arise, unions cannot fight for want of funds.

6. Lack of a Common Goal:

Trade unions in India today suffer from the lack of a common goal. Since
the workers are controlled by the labour wings of different political
parties, oneness of mind among the workers cannot be expected.
Workers are themselves divided; the rivalry among the trade unions is
more severe than their hatred and opposition against the employer.

7. Absence of Craft Unions:

This is a unique feature of the trade unions in India. There is no craft-

wise trade union. All workers of different crafts belong to the same trade
union and this naturally stands in the way of their coming close to one
another. There always remains a distance between workers specialized in
different crafts. Thus, the trade unions with such members become weak.

Concept of Collective Bargaining

The term Collective Bargaining was first coined by Mr Sydney Webb in

1897. Collective bargaining can also be referred as Bi-partile Settlement
as two parties i.e. employer and employee are involved. The process of
collective bargaining was introduced late in India as trade unions were
formed in 20th century. Collective Bargaining is the most important for
determining the terms and conditions of employment.
Collective bargaining deals with the issues which include working
conditions, salaries and compensation, working hours, and benefits.

Subject Matter of Collective Bargaining (essential

condition)

The issues covered in the collective bargaining are as follows-

1. Recognition of unions, Wages and allowances.

2. Hours of work, leave and festival holidays.
3. Bonus and profit-sharing schemes, standard labour force.
4. Provident fund, gratuity and other retirement benefit and incentive
systems.

The Indian Institute of Personnel Management, gives the following as the

subject matter of collective bargaining:

 Trade union rights and duties.

 Grievance redressal procedure.
Characteristics of Collective Bargaining
The main characteristics of collective bargaining are:

1. Collective Process: Both of the party sit together and reach at an

acceptable conclusion.
2. Continuous Process: The collective bargaining is continuous
process ; it goes on for 365 days of the year. It does not end with an
agreement and does not start with negotiations. The process
includes application of contract and administration also. The
bargaining goes on day to day under the rules established by
labour agreements.
3. Flexible: The process is very flexible and there is no specific rule
for reaching at the conclusion. There is more scope for
compromise.
4. Dynamic: Collective bargaining is a dynamic process because the
way by which conclusion is reached keeps on changing every time.

Advantages of Collective Bargaining

The advantages of collective bargaining are –

1. Enhance worker’s quality of life: It helps workers in improving

their quality life of life. The main focus is on improving safety and
working conditions of employees.
2. Offer security and stability: They have a team of representatives
and strong support system who represent them and fight for the
rights of employees.
3. Creates a binding result: It provides for extra security for
employers and employees for defending their positions.
4. It is a transparent process: All the discussions are kept in
written form and are open to all for reference. Whatever is decided
between the parties can be easily known. Such type of flexibility
may not be available at other workplaces.
Strike And Lock-Out Under Industrial Dispute
Act 1947

Strike is a very powerful weapon used by trade unions and other labour
associations to get their demands accepted. It generally involves
quitting of work by a group of workers for the purpose of bringing
the pressure on their employer so that their demands get
accepted. A lock-out declared in consequence of an illegal strike or a
strike declared in consequence of an illegal lock-out shall not be deemed
to be illegal.

Causes of strikes:

 Strikes can occur because of the following reasons:

o Dissatisfaction with company policy
o Salary and incentive problems
o Increment not up to the mark
o Hours of work and rest intervals
o Leaves with wages and holidays
o Bonus, profit sharing, Provident fund and gratuity

 Procedure Of Strikes in India

 Proposal to go on strike should be intimated to management by

way of prior notice that is 14 days stipulated time period should be
given to the management to respond or react so as to avoid strike.
During this 14 days’ time no workmen should go on strike. Only
after expiry of the that 14 days and management fails to respond or
resolve issues within those 14 days, workers can go on strike on
 fixed date by giving notice of strike. Such strike should be done
before the expiry of those six weeks only.

Meaning and definition:

According to Industrial Disputes Act 1947,Lockout [Sec. 2(1)]:

Lockout means "the temporary closing of a place of employment, or the

suspension of work, or the refusal by an employer to continue to employ
any number of persons employed by him". Lockout is the antithesis of
strike.

It is a weapon of the employer while strike is a weapon in the hands

of workers.

The Reasons Behind the Lockouts

 Disputes or clashes in between workers and the management.

 Illegal strikes, regular strikes or continuous strikes by workers may
lead to lockout of factory or industry.
 Continuous financial losses of factory or industry may lead to opt
lockout by the management.
 Maybe lockout if any company involves in any fraudulent or illegal
activities.
 Failure in maintaining proper industrial relations, industrial peace,
and harmony.

1. Conciliation
Conciliation is a form of mediation. Mediation is the act of making active
effort to bring two conflicting parties to compromise. Mediation,
however, differs from conciliation in that whereas conciliator plays only a
passive and indirect role, and the scope of his functions is provided under
the law, the mediator takes active part and the scope of his activities are
not subject to any statutory provisions.
Conciliation is the practice by which the services of a neutral party are
used in a dispute as a means of helping the disputing parties to reduce
the extent of their differences and to arrive at an amicable settlement of
agreed solution.

Conciliation Officer: The law provides for the appointment of Conciliation

Officer by the Government to conciliate between the parties to the
industrial dispute. The Conciliation Officer is given the powers of a civil
court, whereby he is authorised to call the witness the parties on oath. It
should be remembered, however, whereas civil court cannot go beyond
interpreting the laws, the conciliation officer can go behind the facts and
make judgment which will be binding upon the parties.

2. Court of Inquiry : The court consist of two or more members one of

whom shall be appointed by the chairman. Within a period of 6 months,
the court has to send a report thereon to the appropriate Government
from the commencement of its any inquiry. This period is not mandatory
and it may be extended.
The report of the Court must be signed by all the members. A court of
Inquiry has no power to improve any settlement upon the parties.

3. Voluntary Arbitration
On failure of conciliation proceedings, the conciliation officer many
persuade the parties to refer the dispute to a voluntary arbitrator.
Voluntary arbitration refers to getting the disputes settled through an
independent person chosen by the parties involved mutually and
voluntarily. In other words, arbitration offers an opportunity for a
solution of the dispute through an arbitrator jointly appointed by the
parties to the dispute. The process of arbitration saves time and money of
both the parties which is usually wasted in case of adjudication.
Voluntary arbitration became popular as a method a settling differences
between workers and management with the advocacy of Mahatma
Gandhi, who had applied it very successfully in the Textile industry of
Ahmedabad. However, voluntary arbitration was lent legal identity only
in 1956 when Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 was amended to include a
provision relating to it.

4.Adjudication

It is the final legal option for settlement of industrial dispute. In other

words, a settlement of an industrial dispute by a labour court or
industrial or a tribunal is mandatory.

These include:
(a) Labour courts,
(b) Industrial tribunals,
(c) National tribunals.
1. Company Policies and Procedures:
o Venture Quest Employee Handbook (2024 Edition).
o HR Recruitment Guidelines, Venture Quest HR Department.
2. Recruitment Software and Tools:
o LinkedIn Recruiter: Used for sourcing and managing candidates.
 o Applicant Tracking System (ATS) User Guide: Provided by Venture Quest’s
HR software vendor (Note: Include actual URL if available).
3. Data Management and Backend Operations:
o Database Management Best Practices: Principles and techniques for effective
data management.
o Venture Quest Backend Operations Workflow Documents, Internal Company
Resources.
4. Onboarding and HR Best Practices:
o Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) Onboarding Guide:
Industry standards for effective employee onboarding.
o SHRM, "Talent Acquisition and Recruitment" articles, available through the
SHRM website (accessed June-August 2024).
5. Internship Structure and Learning Outcomes:
o Quantum University Internship Program Guidelines, Quantum University
(2024).
o "Maximizing Internship Learning: A Guide for Interns and Supervisors," by
Dr. John Smith, published in the Journal of Experiential Education (2023).
6. Workflow Optimization and Efficiency:
o Lean Management Techniques: An introduction to lean management and
workflow optimization.
o Internal Process Improvement Reports, Venture Quest Backend Operations
Team.
7. Communication and Interdepartmental Coordination:
o Effective Communication in the Workplace: Article from the Harvard Business
Review.
o Venture Quest Interdepartmental Communication Guidelines, 2024.
8. Mentorship and Professional Development:
o Mentorship Best Practices: Guidelines from the National Mentoring
Partnership.
o Venture Quest Mentorship Program Overview, Internal Document (2024).
These references include internal documents, industry-standard resources, and academic
guidelines that informed the tasks, learning outcomes, and recommendations detailed in this
internship report.