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25 August, 2026Thirty-one representatives from IndustriALL Global Union’s Indian affiliates have committed to 100-day organizing plans to strengthen union membership and reach contract workers, women and young workers across India’s ICT, electrical and electronics sectors.
The two-day workshop on strategic organizing and union building, held in Mumbai on 5–6 August under the IndustriALL-Union to Union India project, brought together affiliates to develop concrete priorities in industries undergoing rapid technological and structural change.
Unions commit to concrete organizing
The central outcome of the workshop was a commitment by each affiliate to develop and implement its own 100-day organizing plan, with specific targets and mechanisms for follow-up.
The plans will focus on increasing membership, organizing contract workers and strengthening the participation of women and young workers. Affiliates also committed to developing new organizers, strengthening cooperation between unions and using international labour standards and other tools to support their efforts.
Organizing amid technological change
Participants highlighted work intensification, increased surveillance and occupational safety and health risks alongside the growing use of contract and precarious employment. They discussed how new forms of workplace monitoring can increase pressure on workers and contribute to psychological stress.
The workshop thus focused on practical ways for unions to respond, including mapping industrial clusters, identifying non-unionized workplaces and contract workers as well as using digital tools to reach young workers.
Turning commitments into union power
Participants also explored how unions can use ILO conventions, Global Framework Agreements, human rights due diligence mechanisms and supply-chain commitments to strengthen their bargaining position with employers and multinational companies.
The workshop reiterated strong collective agreements, social dialogue and worker participation in decisions on technology and work organization as essential to ensuring a fair transition.
Constructive social dialogue was also highlighted during a visit to Siemens plants in Thane as part of the workshop. Representatives congratulated the Siemens Workers’ Union and management on their engagement and called for the same approach to be sustained at the CNS plant in Haridwar.
With IndustriALL support over the next 18 months, the challenge now is to build on these commitments, bring more workers into unions and turn short-term organizing drives into sustained union power across the sector.
“A 100-day plan has a date on it. That is what makes it different from a good discussion,”
said Alexander Ivanou, IndustriALL director for ICT, electrical and electronics.
“IndustriALL will support the follow-up, but the organizers and the new leaders have to come from the unions themselves.”
IndustriALL regional secretary for South Asia Ashutosh Bhattacharya reflected:
“Our affiliates need to strengthen organizing across supply chains and ensure that our strategies are truly inclusive. Bringing more women and young workers into unions, collective bargaining and leadership is essential to building stronger unions that can respond effectively to the changing world of work.”