The idea of forming a labour union in the principal cities in India has been on the tapis for some time. The Bombay strike, followed by strikes in other towns, the present Railway strike in Bhavnagar for instance, have indicated that the relations between employers and employed, between labour and capital, are becoming strained, and that it is necessary to organize measures of some kind as a medium to arbitrate between the two, for the benefit of both. It is undesirable that things should be permitted to remain as they are. Those who advocate the step argue somewhat as follows. On the one hand, whether the employers are Government or private corporations and capitalists, they have it in their power to defy the labourer and to bring him to his knees, by reason of the latter being unable to hold out for any length of time. When he submits, he is probably penalised in an appreciable way, and discovers that by his recalcitrancy he is compelled to accept and abide by terms less advantageous to him than those he suffered from before the strike. On the other hand, the employer, though he may experience some temporary inconvenience and loss, is generally able to tide over the situation by the employment of a less skilled labour eager for employment on starvation wages.
