Do you think economic liberalisation has compromised trade unionism in IDIA ?
During the License Raj Trade Union had a meaning and had a role to play. Number of industries were limited, competition in market place and job opportunities were very low. So there was lot of scope for employees being exploited by the employer. So having Employees Unions was a necessity. In post liberalization period the scenario is different. There is a tremendous growth in the number of industries and job opportunities. A person with right kind of skill and qualification can easily find a job elsewhere if he is dissatisfied with his job or gets retrenched. In post liberalization it is the employees who has a better chance of exploiting the employer. To a great extent trade union have become redundant. Moreover today\’s industries are professionally managed and exploitation of employees are not as much an issue as it was during the pre liberalization period, when organization were directly managed by the owners in a feudal style.