Centre of Indian Trade Unions

Centre of Indian Trade Unions
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Name	Centre of Indian Trade Unions
Founded	1970
Founder	General Secretary: C. A. Rauf
Headquarters	New Delhi
Affiliation	Communist Party of India (Marxist)
Key people	General Secretary: Prakash Karat

Centre of Indian Trade Unions

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions is a national trade union federation founded in 1970 and associated with Communist Party of India (Marxist), operating from New Delhi with affiliates across India. It has engaged with industry unions in Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra and has participated in national labour negotiations involving ministries and corporate groups such as Steel Authority of India Limited, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, Tata Group, Mahindra & Mahindra and State Bank of India. The federation has been involved in landmark labour disputes connected to legislation like the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and policies debated in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

History

The federation emerged in 1970 following splits in the All India Trade Union Congress and realignments after the 1964 split in Communist Party of India that produced the Communist Party of India (Marxist), with early leaders drawn from trade union movements in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. In the 1970s and 1980s it mobilised workers around struggles at Bokaro Steel Plant, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and in dockyards at Kolkata Port and Mumbai Port Trust, interacting with campaigns led by figures associated with Jawaharlal Nehru University, All India Students Federation, Left Front (West Bengal), and labour intellectuals linked to Jawaharlal Nehru-era industrial policy debates. During the 1991 economic liberalisation initiated by the P. V. Narasimha Rao government, the federation opposed reforms affecting public sector units and campaigned against policies advocated by think tanks like the Institute of Economic Growth and the National Council of Applied Economic Research.

Organisation and Structure

The organisation is structured with a national congress, central committee and state councils mirroring Communist Party of India (Marxist) arrangements, with sectoral federations for coal, steel, ports, railways and banking. Its governance includes a national executive, district committees and plant-level shop committees, coordinating with unions such as the All India Railwaymen's Federation and the Bank Employees Federation. Leadership selection follows processes influenced by cadre practices seen in Left Front (Tripura) and organisational norms used by Centre of Indian Trade Unions-affiliated cadres in Kerala State Committee. The federation maintains legal registration under applicable labour laws and engages with statutory bodies including the Ministry of Labour and Employment (India) and tribunals under the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946.

Membership and Affiliates

Affiliates span sectoral federations in mining, manufacturing, transportation and public services, with member unions active in Coal India Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation, Indian Railways, Air India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and municipal corporations in Kochi, Kolkata and Chennai. The federation counts trade unions representing employees of Bharat Electronics Limited, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Hindustan Zinc, GAIL (India), and private sector unions in Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services where labour organising has occurred. It has collaborated with student, peasant and teacher organisations such as the Students' Federation of India, All India Kisan Sabha and All India Federation of Teachers.

Political Activity and Ideology

Rooted in Marxist-Leninist trade unionism associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the federation advances class-based labour organising, public sector defence and pro-worker interpretations of constitutional labour rights derived from debates around the Constitution of India and Directive Principles of State Policy. It participates in joint actions with other national bodies including the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Indian National Trade Union Congress, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, and coalitions formed during national general strikes involving the Samyukt Kisan Morcha and civil society groups linked to Anna Hazare-era campaigns. Its public positions have engaged with legislation like the Minimum Wages Act, 1948, reforms proposed by the NITI Aayog, and policies debated in the Rajya Sabha.

Key Campaigns and Strikes

The federation organised mass strikes and protests in response to privatisation and labour reform proposals in 1991, 2004, 2015 and major general strikes in 2016 and 2019, coordinating with unions representing railway workers, port workers at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust and banking staff at State Bank of India. Notable campaigns included opposition to closures at Bharat Wagon and Engineering, defence production disputes at Bharat Dynamics Limited, and mobilisations around workplace fatalities in mining areas of Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The organisation took leading roles in solidarity actions with plantation workers in Kerala and tea garden labourers in Assam and has filed representations before bodies such as the Labour Commissioner and industrial tribunals in Kolkata and Mumbai.

Criticisms and Controversies

Critics from political opponents like the Bharatiya Janata Party and rival unions such as the Indian National Trade Union Congress have accused the federation of political partisanship and continuity with partisan strategies used by the Left Front (West Bengal), while employers and industry associations including the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry have criticised its strike tactics as disruptive to investment and production. Human rights groups and labour researchers at institutions like the Centre for Study of Developing Societies and the Institute for Human Development have debated its responses to internal allegations over local leadership disputes and workplace practices in specific affiliates. Court cases in Calcutta High Court and labour commission complaints have at times challenged recognition disputes and negotiation mandates involving company managements such as Tata Steel and Larsen & Toubro.

Category:Trade unions in India