Trade Unions History

History of Trade Unions

History of Trade Unions in Indian Railways dates back to 1897. In the beginning, on the Indian Railways there was no established structure or system for Industrial Relations. Agitations were mostly the source of workers’ demand with the management. In 1897, a Union of Railway employees by the name of Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants in India & Burma came up as a sequel to a strike by the guards of that Company. Between 1897 and 1919, a large number of unions sprang up and many of them cut across staff categories and, therefore, laid the framework of the broad labour fronts. These unions were functioning in isolation and there was growing consciousness that the labour was not unified enough to negotiate from a position of strength. Ill-organized protests and isolated agitations continued to take place on different Railways for some localized and immediate demand without any long term class consciousness and gain. 

In 1925, all the unions came together to from All India Railwaymen’s Federation (AIRF), which continue to exist even today. 

Indian National Railway Workers’ Federation (INRWF) was formed in 1947 and it was granted facilities for consultation in December, 1949. 

In 1952 both the federations were merged and this resulted in the emergence of a single federation for labour on the Railways, which called itself the National Federation of Indian Raiwaymen (NFIR). This was perhaps the most noteworthy feature in the Indian Railway’s labour movement. But unfortunately, during the subsequent years there came a phase of deterioration in the labour movement, thereby depriving the Railway workers of having a unified labour representation. A maturity in approach was noticed subsequently during the first half of 1950s, but it was shortlived. 

In 1955, some former Members of the AIRF held a separate convention. That resulted in the revival of AIRF in August, 1957. Though considerable efforts were made by the then Railway Ministers in 1957 and in 1973-74 to unite both the recognized Railway Federations viz., AIRF and NFIR but amalgamation couldn’t materialize. 

Both these unions have affiliates in all the zonal railways, which are recognized by the General Managers. Zone-wise names of the recognized unions/associations.