Discuss the changes that the Trade Unions bring out in the lives of workers.

Trade unions is an organised group or body that includes the workers of different professions or trade who come together to protest and fight for their rights.

B.P. Wadia, a social worker and member of the Theosophical Society formed the first trade union in April 1918 in Madras. Other trade unions were Textile Labour Association (TLA) formed by Mahatma Gandhi; All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was formed in Bombay in 1920. AITUC was a broad-based organisation focused on various ideologies. Ideological groups were – Communists led by S.A. Dange and M.N. Roy, the moderates - M. Joshi and V.V. Giri and the nationalists - Lala Lajpat Rai and Jawaharlal Nehru.

The changes that the Trade Unions bring out in the lives of workers are as follows:

• When AITUC was formed the colonial government became more vigilant towards labour. They also provided workers with some concessions to deal with the disturbances that were going on at that time.

• When the government passed the fourth Factories Act in 1922, it reduced the working hours of the workers to 10 hours.

• The Trade Unions Act was passed in 1926, which dealt with the facility to register for the formation of the trade unions and also projected some regulations.

• In fact, AITUC had 200 unions registered under them and membership rise to around 250,000.