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

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

Indian Railways Indian Railways (IR) is a statutory body under the ownership of Ministry of Railways, Government of India that operates India's national railway system. It manages the fourth largest national railway system in the world by size, with a tota ...

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

trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national trade union center, and many have more than one. In some regions, such a ...

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 Inte ...

. 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 (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), popularly referred to as JP or ''Lok Nayak'' ( Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian independence activist, theorist, socialist and political leader. He is remembered for l ...

, while the future communist chief minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu 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 trade unionist, statesman, and journalist, who served as the 22nd Defence Minister of India from 1998 until 2004. He was a member of Lok Sabha for over 30 years, starting f ...

(1973-1976) and Priya Gupta (1976–1979). 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) workers is the largest recorded industrial action in the world.Sherlock, Stephen (14 October 1989)
"Railway Workers and Their Unions: Origins of 1974 Indian Railways Strike"
'' Economic and Political Weekly''. 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 Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

-led government's decision in 2002 to unilaterally grant recognition to its affiliate

Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (translation: ''Indian Workers' Union'') is a trade union in India. It was founded by Dattopant Thengadi on 23 July 1955. The BMS itself claims to have more than 10 million members. According to provisional statisti ...

. 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 Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC) is a national trade union in India. It was founded on 3 May 1947 and is affiliated with the International Trade Union Confederation. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, ...

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