Trade unions

Textile unionism has been, like unionism in the railways and coal mines in India, industrial unionism, characterised by long drawn out general strikes. Today, as Bombay textile workers have entered into a seemingly indefinite strike, they do so in the context of fundamental changes which have occurred in the last 20 years in the industry; changes which could transform the nature of textile unionism. From the 1918 general strike, which covered 80 mills and involved one lakh and forty thousand workers, up to the present, Bombay textile workers have launched industrial actions which have drawn together workers from the whole industry. These strikes have thrown up different forms of organisations like the Girni Kamgar Union and the mill committees; which were formed as a result of the general strikes of 1924-25 and the six-month long struggle of 1928. These represented the coalescence of two tendencies

Datta Samant has been the most talked of, enigmatic and controversial trade union leader in Maharashtra in the past few years. Working class activity in Bombay has come to be equated with the ventures of Datta Samant His involvement in long drawn out struggles, the militant following he commands and the bloody inter-union rivalries he has been associated with provide ideal ingredients for sensational news items. The struggles of the workers in the post-Emergency period in Maharashtra have by and large been portrayed as the struggles of Datta Samant.  

Everyone was impressed by the award in the Bombay textile labour wage dispute announced on April 13 by the chief minister of Maharashtra and the Union Industries Minister. The media made sure that everyone would be impressed. The award was described as epoch-making, unprecedented, etc. The textile workers, however, were not impressed; they were disappointed. 

The densely populated textile mills urea of Parel-Lalbaug in Bombay recently witnessed organised expression of workers' discontent on the bonus question. Th e central trade union organisations active among textile workers sensed the signals and bestirred themselves. There was a strike which began on October 15, and continued till October 18. In about 30 mills, the strike was total, and the remaining mills operated only partially.  

The success of the agitation against the agreement between the Rashtriya Mill Mazdoor Sangh and the Millowners' Association on the introduction of a seven-day week in textile mills in Bombay has exceeded the expectations of its organisers. Certainly, it has dealt another blow to the political fortunes of the Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee president, Rajni Patel, who is also president of the RMMS. After the Congress debacle in the Bombay Municipal Corporation elections in March, the BPCC president and his group have been frantically looking for opportunities to demonstrate their political influence in the city. The agreement over the seven-day week was seized upon with the same end in view.