KOCHI: Early last year when layoffs in TCS hit the headlines, it created a hitherto unheard solidarity among the software engineers who coordinated their activities across the country through a Facebook page ‘We are against TCS Layoff’.
Most of the protest demonstrations were held in cities like Chennai and Bengaluru. In Kerala, in contrast, the protests held outside the IT cluster of Infopark, Kakkanad, were subdued and led by trade unions with only limited participation of software engineers, who were directly affected by the layoffs.
Now with Tamil Nadu government deciding last week to allow information technology (IT) workers to float trade unions, one would think that the IT sector in Kerala - known for its trade union culture and the emergence of the new government under the Left in power - would take a cue and follow the footsteps of its neighbouring state.
Far from it, both the IT community and the government seem to be in no hurry to have similar rule in the state. There is a reason for this. “In many IT firms, employees’ association with trade unions is restricted by word-of-mouth caution or by blackmailing or ‘blacklisting’ the employee rather than getting it in writing (not to associate with TUs),” said M Sathiesh, joint secretary, Forum of IT Employees (FITE), Chennai.
FITE, which was the offshoot of TCS layoff, has memberships in Kerala. “We have a chapter in Kochi as well. However, our prominence in Kochi is comparatively low with respect to other cities such as Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad,” said Sathiesh. ‘Express’ spoke to several IT professionals, who said when they join an IT firm they agree not to associate with any trade unions or any other political groups. “There was a big issue relating to auto drivers fleecing us at Infopark and we wanted to protest against this, but the office told us not to venture into any such demonstration or protest,” said a software professional at one of the firms in Infopark. “If we want, we can float a forum or group for cultural activities similar to ‘Prathidwani’ in Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram,” said another IT employee.
Meanwhile, Labour Minister T P Ramakrishnan said the government has not given a thought about the issue of trade unions in the IT sector. “Let me study the issue first,” he told ‘Express’.
Sathiesh of FITE said party-affiliated trade unions are not in existence yet in IT/ITeS industry. “Even if they do, they do not have prominence,” he added.
According to a member of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the workers’ rights are denied saying that the software engineers are “professionals”, but the same companies insist on relieving letters when workers shift from one company to another.
When pointed out about the statement of Mohandas Pai, ex-board member of Infosys, that IT companies should not expand their operations in Tamil Nadu, Sathiesh said FITE would reply to this in coming days. “We strongly dispute the statements he had made,” he said. Sathiesh said apart from TCS, FITE had lodged many court cases against various IT/ITes companies. “We have been indulging in various employee empowerment initiatives as well,” he added.