Indian unions unite around organizing and just transition

Global shifts, local realities

Day 1 focused on sustainable industrial policy and Just Transition in the context of global economic and political shifts.

Participants highlighted how changes in production, supply chains, and trade are reshaping industries in India, often without meaningful union participation.

Diana Junquera Curiel, director for industrial policy at IndustriALL, emphasized that Just Transition must be used as a tool to shape policy, not respond after decisions are made. She stressed the need for unions to build knowledge, engage with technology, and organise across supply chains, including informal workers who remain largely invisible.

Informalization and technology pressures

Across sectors, unions raised concerns about growing informalization, outsourcing, and contract labour. Declining permanent jobs and weak protections are increasing precarity, with women workers particularly affected.

At the same time, technological change and AI are widening skill gaps and threatening livelihoods. A key point that emerged was that while these changes cannot be resisted, unions must intervene to ensure technology benefits workers, not just companies.

Organizing and strategy at the core

Day 2 reinforced organizing as the central priority.

IndustriALL general secretary Atle Høie noted that nearly 93 percent of workers remain unorganized globally, stressing the need to expand membership and strengthen collective bargaining. He underlined that while global frameworks and tools exist, their impact depends on active use by affiliates.

"Organizing remains the most important task in front of us. With the vast majority of workers still in the informal economy, strengthening membership and collective bargaining is essential if unions are to effectively respond to the changes we are seeing globally."

Participants emphasized the need for coordinated strategies, stronger research and data, and greater focus on organising informal and precarious workers.

Labour reforms and shrinking dialogue

Labour law reforms emerged as a major concern, with unions warning that new labour codes risk institutionalising precarious work.

Participants also pointed to declining bipartite and tripartite dialogue, limiting unions' ability to influence policy and raising concerns about increasing demands for "union-free" environments.

Looking ahead

The meeting highlighted the need for unions to adapt strategies, strengthen inclusion of women and youth, and engage more proactively with policy and technological change.

As India's industrial transition accelerates, ensuring workers have a meaningful voice in shaping its direction remains a critical challenge.

Ashutosh Bhattacharya regional secretary of IndustriALL South Asia saod:

"Industrial policy, trade, and technological change are already reshaping jobs and industries. The question is whether workers will have a say in that process. Trade unions must move early, build collective strategies, and ensure that this transition is shaped with workers-not imposed on them."