Trade unionism and industrial restructuring in India and Pakistan

Inheriting an identical body of colonial labor legislation, India's electoral competitive political party regimes and Pakistan's military-bureaucratic regimes devised markedly different roles for organized labor. Democratic political regimes in India politicized and institutionalized organized labor, whereas authoritarian political regimes in Pakistan fragmented and marginalized organized labor. Both labor movements are struggling against the labor rationalization associated with the International Monetary Fund structural adjustment programs currently being implemented by both governments. The politically influential Indian trade union organizations have helped to slow the process of economic liberalization in a manner not possible in Pakistan. However, the costs of labor's political incorporation may be high, as indicated by the lack of support from official Indian trade union organizations for workers' management schemes.