IMF publishes vast research on metal industry in India

INDIA: Research initiated by the IMF in order to obtain accurate and up-to-date information on the composition and location of the metal industry in India and on the unions in this industry has now been compiled and published by the IMF's South Asia Office in New Delhi. The study, entitled "Metal Industry in India - A Survey," shows that concentration of the workforce in the metal industry in India has shifted from large - mainly state-owned - companies to small and medium-sized enterprises, or from the so-called formal to the informal sector. Therefore, it is extremely important for the survival of the trade unions that, in order to counter the reduction in membership that has followed this trend, they concentrate organising efforts on the workers in the smaller industries. One of the recommendations of this study is the need to organise contract workers and safeguard their rights. The report says that contract workers represent 30 per cent to 35 per cent of the declared workforce in the sectors surveyed and are not eligible for any welfare or other benefits. In most of the Indian states, they receive about one-third of the wages paid to the regular workers. At the same time, contract workers do not have a major role in the trade unions and are rarely members. This and much more information is available in "Metal Industry in India - A Survey". The 225-page report has been published in English, Hindi, Kannada and Telugu and can be downloaded in English on the associated link. A limited number of hard copies are available from the IMF in Geneva. The results of the research will be used in the organising project launched in India in 2000 with the IMF affiliates SMEFI and INMF-Mines, with the support of the IMF's Danish affiliates CO-Industri and Danish Metal through the LO-FTF Council.