Political Parties and Trade Unions in India

It is a study of intricacies of the relationship between political parties and trade union movement in a developing country like India. Congress party, the leading political party had a very crucial role to play in anti-imperialist struggle as well as post colonial governance. The predicament to use union initially for anti-imperialism and nation building in the post-independence years. The initial years of independence was difficult for both party and the union. In the post oil-shock period the union toed the party line. It was a challenging task for the Union. However, in the globalized era the compulsions of economic reforms created tensions between the party and the union. As far as Union is concerned, globalization can bring in a phase of global collaboration among the unions. It can be beyond political parties at the national level.