AIRF’s triumph in railways union polls offers new narrative for general elections

NEW DELHI: Elections to pick trade unions to represent the employees of the Indian Railways, have thrown up an interesting narrative for the upcoming general elections if they are to be considered a barometer to assess the mood of the working class with Congress-led unions doing better than expected.

While apolitical trade unions, affiliated to the All India Railwaymens’ Federation ( AIRF), have emerged as the union with the greatest bargaining clout in the election which were held in 17 zones, unions affiliated to the BJP and the Communist parties have been virtually wiped out.

The Trinamool Congress’ union, which contested in the Railways’ polls for the first time, also failed to make a mark. More surprisingly, given the prevailing political narrative, the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen (NFIR), affiliated to the ruling Congress party, has improved its performance significantly, becoming the union with the largest bargaining power in five of the 17 zones and improving its tally in six other zones where it has gained recognition as the second-largest official trade union.

NFIR was set up by the Congress’ trade union wing INTUC after independence. These elections took place across the different zones between April 25 and April 27, and the counting of votes concluded late Thursday night.

This was only the second time that union elections were held by secret ballot in the Railways’ history. AIRF, whose leaders have included the likes of former president VV Giri and Jaya Prakash Narayan, is the most successful union with bargaining powers in 16 of the 17 zones. In five of those zones, it is the only union selected to represent employees in negotiations with the Railways — up from its performance in the previous polls when it got the sole charge of four zones.