The All India Railwaymen's Federation (AIRF) is the largest

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

Indian Railways Indian Railways is a state-owned enterprise that is organised as a departmental undertaking of the Ministry of Railways (India), Ministry of Railways of the Government of India and operates India's national railway system. , it manages the fou ...

workers with a membership of 1.4 million. AIRF was founded on 16 February 1925.. It is affiliated with the socialist trade union centre

Hind Mazdoor Sabha The Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS) was formed by the Socialists in 1948 but has little real connection with the Socialist Party. It is one of the least political and most pragmatic trade-union federations in India. The HMS is affiliated with the Int ...

. By the late 1940s, AIRF had begun to be dominated by socialists and communists. The union's president between 1947 and 1953 was the socialist

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

, while the future communist chief minister of West Bengal,

Jyoti Basu Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010) was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest ...

was vice-president. Worried by this, the ruling Congress Party formed its own railway wing, the Indian National Railway Workers' Federation (INRWF) in 1948. In March 1949, AIRF was set to launch a strike but withdrew the strike notice after the government attempted conciliation. The communist wing of the union attempted to continue staging strikes. The government launched a crackdown. Troops were deployed, 7,000 workers were arrested and 2,000 were dismissed. Communist-linked unions and members were expelled from the union.In 1953, AIRF merged with INRWF to form the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen. This unity was short-lived and AIRF became independent again in 1955. Despite favouritism towards the Congress-aligned unions by the Indian Railways management, AIRF continued to maintain strong influence among railway workers. Past AIRF presidents include Venkat Varah Giri (V. V. Giri, Ex President of India) Peter Alvares (1968–1973),

George Fernandes George Mathew Fernandes (3 June 1930 – 29 January 2019) was an Indian politician, trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the Minister of Defence (India), Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. A veteran socialist, h ...

(1973-1976), Priya Gupta (1976–1979) and Umraomal Purohit (1979-2014). In May 1974, AIRF President

led a nationwide railway strike that was suppressed by the Government of India. The strike lasted from 8 to 27 May 1974. The 20-day strike by 1.7 million (17

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

) workers is the largest recorded

industrial action Industrial action (British English) or job action (American English) is a temporary show of dissatisfaction by employees—especially a strike or slowdown or working to rule—to protest against bad working conditions or low pay and to increas ...

in the world.Sherlock, Stephen (14 October 1989)
"Railway Workers and Their Unions: Origins of 1974 Indian Railways Strike"
''

Economic and Political Weekly The ''Economic and Political Weekly'' (EPW) is a weekly peer-reviewed academic journal covering all social sciences, and is published by the Sameeksha Trust. In January 2018, academic Gopal Guru was named the new Editor of the journal. Guru will be ...

''. 24 (41): 2311–2322. In 2007, Indian Railways was ordered by courts to hold secret ballot elections for the first time to determine union representation in each of its seventeen zones. The court case was precipitated by the then

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

-led government's decision in 2002 to unilaterally grant recognition to its affiliate Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh. The criteria for recognition in a zone was 35% of the votes polled or 30% of the total electorate in a given zone. Unions winning over 50% of the votes would become the only recognized union. The elections saw AIRF emerge as the largest union, winning recognition in sixteen zones, including becoming the sole recognized union in four. NFIR affiliated with

INTUC The Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) is a National trade union center, national trade union centre in India. Founded on 3 May 1947, it is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. The INTUC claims a membership of ...

won recognition in nine. In the second elections held in 2013, AIRF again won recognition in sixteen zones, five as sole representative whereas NFIR won recognition in twelve. AIRF is led by President N. Kanniah and General Secretary Shiva Gopal Mishra.

References

{{Trade unions in India navbox Trade unions in India Hind Mazdoor Sabha-affiliated unions Trade unions in Indian Railways Trade unions established in 1924 1924 establishments in India