HYDERABAD: A year has passed since 54 techies of Verizon Data Services India (VDSI) were retrenched in an unprecedented manner. A police case was registered against bouncers who were used to threaten the employees to sign their relieving letters. The matter was even taken to the High Court. But till date there is no progress in either the police case or the HC petition. And, the software employees who started a fight seemed to have given up, lately.
While those who have raised their voice have taken up new jobs -- many in the city and some in the neighbouring States -- but a lot of them have given up their fight to get justice. “I could not believe that I was jobless by the evening when I went to the office on December 13. That day still causes a lot of fear on the precarious job market that I am placed in. But soon after a month, I got an offer and I moved out of State. Though I had to settle for a lesser package, it was better than being jobless,” said one of the techie whose petition is pending in the High Court.
Some of the techies, who were retrenched have moved away from active pursuance of their lost job. “We are financially supporting the ones actively pursuing the case,” informed one of the employee. But things have fallen apart when it comes to labour rights, with regard to the IT/ITES industry. A senior industrial tribunal advocate who wished not to be named felt that approaching the HC instead of a labour court for immediate relief was a bad decision.
“The techies should have exhausted the labour laws instead of directly going to the HC. There could have been, at least, hearing of the petitions done besides getting temporary relief,” he said. It may be noted that it was not just the techies from VDSI who have approached the HC over their untimely retrenchment, but, six employees from Tech Mahindra have also filed their petition in the HC in 2017. All the petitions are yet to come for hearing. Even the rapid strides in forming a trade union by Forum for IT Professionals (ForIT), an IT welfare organisation, has hit a roadblock and it has been a non-starter.