UNION JACK: Organised labour needs a dose of Thatcherism.

THE Congress parliamentary party leader has a test coming up - will she instruct her party to vote along with the treasury benches when the amendments to the Trade Union Act, 1926 are placed, or will she play politics and find common cause with the Left? On Sonia Gandhi's political maturity hangs the question whether India's militant union leaders will be tamed at least partially. Related to that are issues of better industrial relations, greater managerial freedom and more choice for ordinary workers. The Act as it has stood barely changed for almost 75 years, privileges professional unionists over workers. Whatever the original motive behind this generosity, the effect has …