The centenary of Madras Labour Union, the country's oldest union passed without celebration

As trade unions gear up to celebrate the May Day, the centenary of India's first labour union 'Madras Labour Union'— formed by the workers of the then Buckingham and Carnatic Mills at Perambur on April 27, 1918 — passed by without any celebration.

The office building of the historic trade union on Strahans Road at Perambur presents a picture of neglect with trees growing all over it. After the closure of the mill in 1996, the independent union has limited itself to fighting the court cases on behalf of the workers.

The MLU was formed on the initiative taken by two traders, Selvapathi Chettiyar and Ramanujulu Naidu, after they were moved by the stories of exploitation and hardships endured by mill workers who patronised their shops in Perambur.

"Selvapathi Chettiar was shocked by the harrowing tales he heard from the workmen. One incident in 1917 particularly shocked his sensibilities; A worker who was refused permission to answer a call of nature defecated at the work spot itself. He was forced to clean the place he had dirtied, an act which no caste Hindu would normally perform back at that time. Chettiar decided that something had to be done to ameliorate the sufferings of these workmen," wrote D Veeraraghavan in his book The Making of Madras Working Class.

Despite intimidation from the British police, both Selvapathi and Ramanujulu started mobilising mill workers to attend the religious discourse of Tamil scholar Thiru Vi Kalyanasundaram, better known as Thiru Vi Ka, at their shop premises. The MLU was formed on April 27, 1918 with BP Wadia, a colleague of Annie Besant, becoming its founding president. Selvapathi and Ramanujulu became the general secretaries of the union while Thiru Vi Ka its vice president.

CITU deputy general secretary K Thiruselvan said that his union would be holding a commemoration meeting to mark the centenary of the MLU in May. He said that MLU has inspired a whole generation of workers to fight for their rights. From the reduction of workloads to eight hour working days, the MLU fought and won several rights of the workers including weekly off, he said.

The struggle initiated by the MLU along with trade unions led to the enactment of 44 different labour laws but the centre wants to amalgamate them into four codes to take away hard-won rights of workers including the right to form the union and collective bargaining, he said.

"All the trade unions including CITU wanted the state government to take over the dilapidated building of the MLU and establish a memorial library to commemorate the centenary of the union," Thiruselvan said.

M.V. Krishnan, author of the 'Trade Union History of Chennai' said that the formation of the MLU brought an end to the brutal punishment meted out to the workers with the whip by white supervisors of the mill.

Working People Trade Union Council leader R. Kuchelar who was the last elected president of the MLU said that it was the largest mill in Asia employing 25,000 workers. "It is the first union to be formally formed in the country. It created a huge impact on workers not only in the Madras but across the country," he said, adding that the mill was shut in 1996 and all the workers except for 30 accepted for the settlement. "I asked the Pachaiyappa's trust to take over the union office but it did not materialise. Hence I wrote a letter to Tamil Nadu government more than a decade ago to take over the union office and build a memorial library in place but nothing happened," he said.