WHITED SEPULCHRE
Peter Waterman
Trade Unionism: Myth and Reality by Kuriakose Mamkoottam By Kuriakose Mamkoottam, 1983, 140 pp., 65.00
Sept-Oct 1983, volume 8, No 2

Mamkoottam’s study (1982) of the Tata Workers Union (TWU) in Jamshedpur is a work of considerable value. It should be made widely-known both within the country and internationally. The TWU, based on the giant Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) works, presents the image of a model trade union within a model company in a model city. Mamkoottam is concerned to explore this myth. He does so in a form and manner likely to maxi¬mize the political and edu¬cational impact of the work, even if one might wish that he had gone further in a number of respects.

The Tata company is one of the major Indian monopolies, and the one with the most modern image concerning its industrial relations and wel¬fare policies. It created the first Indian iron and steel company in the tribal belt of Southern Bihar in the 1900s, and around it the model town of Jamshedpur—named after the company’s founder. Since 1958 there has been but one major breach of industrial peace within the company. The same period there has seen extensive cooperation between the company and the TWU, with the union being recognized as the sole bargaining agent. Leaders of the Tata unions play leading roles within the Congress Party aligned Indian Trade Union Congress (INTUC), within the Congress Party itself, and within the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the associated International Metal workers Federation (IMF).

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