Open AccessIndia’s Liberalisation Project and the Future of Trade Unions
Author(s) -
Pindiga Ambedkar,
Vijay Prashad
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
tempo social
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.449
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 1809-4554
pISSN - 0103-2070
DOI - 10.11606/0103-2070.ts.2020.164980
Subject(s) - liberalization , trade union , resistance (ecology) , political science , free trade , working class , international trade , political economy , economics , economy , law , politics , ecology , biology
India’s ruling class, since the liberalisation period that began in 1991, has attempted to fragment and weaken India’s trade union movement. The main instrument for this weakening is to be the imf-drive ‘labour market reform’ agenda. However, the Indian working class has struggled against the structural process of being integrated into the global value chain, a process that has put pressure on the trade union movement even as trade union laws remain in place. Drawing upon a survey we have conducted amongst garment workers in the Delhi region, we describe the nature of the class struggle faced by Indian workers, and we introduce the reader to the character of the resistance offered by the workers and the unions.