abhishreshthaa
Abhijeet S
Variations across caste, linguistic and communal lines
Trade unions in public sector industries are also divided along caste, linguistic and regional lines. The owners or the management of the industry use these divisions among the workers to their benefit. For example: In some of the sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh (northern region) and TamilNadu (southern region), the trade union movement has been very weak because of the polarization that exists among the workers.
An important trade union leader in a sugar factory in Uttar Pradesh opined that the sugar workers’ movement could not concretize the concept of “worker” in the sugar industry as the primary identity of the workers was rooted in their respective social and caste backgrounds. There are several caste-based unions, apart from national and independent unions, in sugar factories in Tamil Nadu.
The factory owners promote casteism within the factory themselves. In almost all the sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, for example, one finds that the upper-caste workers are employed in the key positions, the dalits in manual work and in the sanitary division and intermediate castes in the technical occupations.
Due to such practices of casteism, dalits are reported to have caste-based unions in sugar factories in TamilNadu. Some of the caste-based unions have political affiliations as well. A section of the sugar workers are also affected by regionalism.
In some factories in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat (western region), where there is a lot of sugar worker migration, one finds tensions among the workers along the lines of language and region.
In Gujarat, there is a barrier between Marathi and Gujarati speakers. In Uttar Pradesh, workers from the western part of the state resent workers from the eastern part.
Another important limitation of the sugar workers’ trade unionism is that the mainstream leadership develops elitist tendencies and thus creates cultural and social gaps between themselves and the rank- and-file workers.
It is alleged in several sugar factories that the leaders are not accessible to the common workers and that whenever they are available; the common workers seldom understand the language spoken by the leaders. Such differences that exist among the workers in the sugar factories are a common sight in other factories and industries as well.
Trade unions in public sector industries are also divided along caste, linguistic and regional lines. The owners or the management of the industry use these divisions among the workers to their benefit. For example: In some of the sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh (northern region) and TamilNadu (southern region), the trade union movement has been very weak because of the polarization that exists among the workers.
An important trade union leader in a sugar factory in Uttar Pradesh opined that the sugar workers’ movement could not concretize the concept of “worker” in the sugar industry as the primary identity of the workers was rooted in their respective social and caste backgrounds. There are several caste-based unions, apart from national and independent unions, in sugar factories in Tamil Nadu.
The factory owners promote casteism within the factory themselves. In almost all the sugar factories in Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka, for example, one finds that the upper-caste workers are employed in the key positions, the dalits in manual work and in the sanitary division and intermediate castes in the technical occupations.
Due to such practices of casteism, dalits are reported to have caste-based unions in sugar factories in TamilNadu. Some of the caste-based unions have political affiliations as well. A section of the sugar workers are also affected by regionalism.
In some factories in Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat (western region), where there is a lot of sugar worker migration, one finds tensions among the workers along the lines of language and region.
In Gujarat, there is a barrier between Marathi and Gujarati speakers. In Uttar Pradesh, workers from the western part of the state resent workers from the eastern part.
Another important limitation of the sugar workers’ trade unionism is that the mainstream leadership develops elitist tendencies and thus creates cultural and social gaps between themselves and the rank- and-file workers.
It is alleged in several sugar factories that the leaders are not accessible to the common workers and that whenever they are available; the common workers seldom understand the language spoken by the leaders. Such differences that exist among the workers in the sugar factories are a common sight in other factories and industries as well.