IT workers to form union amid reports of sackings

Bengaluru, May 23: A forum of IT workers is all set to get itself registered as the first union of techies in the country, amid reports of large scale layoffs by IT firms.

“The Forum for Information Technology Employees (FITE) will be getting itself registered formally as the first union for IT employees in India,” forum’s vice-president Vasumathi said.

“We are expecting this to happen within next five months,” Vasumathi told PTI in an interview. The move has come following “illegal termination” of employees by the major IT companies in the country.

The FITE have been in the thick of action since 2008 when it kicked off a protest to bring attention to the state of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The forum has over 1,000 online members and around 100 active members. It has opened chapters in nine cities, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Kochi and Delhi.

The group has waged various battles for IT employees who were indiscriminately sacked by various companies in the past.

Calls for formation of an IT employee union gathered momentum after reports of large scale layoffs by several IT firms in view of toughening stance of developed nations on work visas and increasing automation in the industry.

Executive search firm Head Hunters India had said that the job cuts in IT sector would be between 1.75 lakh and 2 lakh annually in the next three years due to under-preparedness in adapting to newer technologies.

A McKinsey & Company report had said nearly half of the workforce in the IT services firms will be “irrelevant” over the next 3-4 years. McKinsey India MD Noshir Kaka had also said the bigger challenge ahead for the industry will be to retrain 50-60 per cent of the workforce as there will be a significant shift in technologies.