CITU’s space shrinks, slips to fifth place

“Becoming the fifth largest trade union with a much lesser proportion of the workforce on its rolls, CITU’s bargaining power with the government as well as in tripartite negotiations would go down proportionately,” said a senior member of a rival trade union.

Interestingly, while the BJP-affiliated BMS and the Congress’s INTUC remain the top two unions in the country, CITU’s third spot has been taken over by CPI’s AITUC, which increased its membership by over 24 lakh since 1989.

The Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) remains fourth largest, but is closer than ever to the third position.

While CITU has lost more than 82 per cent of its members in large states such as Punjab and Bihar, it’s losing its turf to other unions even in West Bengal. CITU had 8.70 lakh members out of 27 lakh workers in the state in 1989; now it has 11.27 lakh out of the 43.65 lakh workers. UTUC (LS) had 3.58 lakh members in 1989, but now has 10.66 lakh.

CITU has also lost significant numbers in 24 of the 50 industry classifications covered — including sectors like textiles (down from 1.25 lakh members to 61,740) where the lack of labour reforms has prevented the industry from scaling up and generating more employment.

Speaking to The Sunday Express, CITU chief and CPI(M) Politburo member M K Pandhe dismissed the findings, claiming that they didn’t reflect ground realities. “The strength and clout of a trade union is not based on the numbers of the ministry. It’s the struggles we undertake and the mass support we receive for our struggles. Applying these yardsticks, you can understand where the CITU stands—and people across the country understand this,” he said.

The unions had furnished their membership claims to the government in 2002. The verification of claims was completed by the Chief Labour Commissioner’s office in May this year. At a meeting in July, unions were asked to raise any objections they might have with the exercise within a month.

“Most unions, unlike us, present highly inflated membership claims—twice or thrice their existing numbers. This is to take advantage of the faulty verification system that is in place. The verification sadly means adjustment of numbers, that is some numbers are deducted in an unscientific manner, which helps those who inflate the numbers manifolds to claim a larger membership,” said Pandhe.

While some unions called for a fresh look at part of their membership claims that couldn’t be verified, CITU expressed its unhappiness with the entire exercise. “We demanded that the Labour Ministry introduce a secret ballot system to verify the numbers,” added Pandhe.