Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

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Monograph

Identifikator:: 1850495947

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-233603

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on Labour in India

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: His Majesty's Stationery Off.

Year of publication:: 1931

Scope:: xviii, 580 S.; graph. Darst., Kt.

Digitisation:: 2022

Collection:: Economics Books

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Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Chapter XXV. - Labour and the constitution

Collection:: Economics Books

‘G1 4 CHAPTER XXV.. » One member of that Commission, who opposed special representation for particular interests, advocated the introduction of adult suffrage in certain industrial areas. A Method of Election. If special representation is to be given to industrial labour, the method which, in our view, is most likely to be effective in securing the return to the legislatures of the best representatives of labour is that of election by registered trade unions. The working of this method should also exercise an important influence on the healthy development of trade unionism. ‘Where only one seat was given, the trade unions might elect the member ; where more than one seat was allotted to labour, the unjons could either be grouped for the purpose in separate constituencies, possib- ty according to industries, or they could elect the members jointly. As regards the details, we recommend the setting up in each province of a special tribunal to determine before each election the weight which should be given to each registered trade union. The tribunal might consist of three members unconnected with industry or labour and presided over by a high judicial officer. The Registrar of Trade Unions should not be a member, but should give the tribunal such assistance as they require. The grant of votes should be limited to unions which have been registered for not less than one year, and it would be the duty of the tribunal, after such investigation as was necessary in the case of each union, to determine the actual paying membership and to allocate votes accordingly. ‘We recog- nise that this method may not be everywhere applicable under present conditions, and, if it was found to be impracticable in any case, recourse would be necessary for a time to some other method. In Assam, for instance, where more effective representation of the plantation workers is required, different methods will be necessary. Local Self-Government. In this connection we would observe that the participation of labour in the sphere of local self-government is no less desirable. In the past, industrial workers had no voice in municipal councils and other local bodies, even where they and their dependents constituted the bulk of the population. Recently labour members have been added to the Bombay municipality, but it is still very general for those who are vitally concerned in municipal administration to have no representation on the council. As a result, councils tend to be composed mainly of those who, if their inter- ests do not conflict with those of the workers, are insufficiently acquaint- ed with their needs. The proper representation of industrial labour should lead to more attention being given to health and housing than in the past. It will be difficult to secure the changes in policy advocated elsewhere so long as municipal councils are not made more representa- tive of the population for whose welfare they are responsible. Notwith- standing that it is customary to base representation on the payment of particular taxes, we consider that, where there is a substantial industrial population, it should be allowed to take a share in municipal government. We recommend that it should receive, either by means of a franchise

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