CITU floats IT staff union

The formal launch of the West Bengal Information Technology Services Association (ITSA) saw a moderate turnout of employees of the IT industry thriving in Salt Lake's Sector V here.

While those attending were mostly from defunct subsidiaries or wings of West Bengal Electronics Industry Development Corporation (WEBEL), some of the attendees were employees of IT companies who had lost their jobs. Yet others were curious bystanders who had sauntered up to "take a look at the development" after the day's work.

Local leaders of the CPI(M)-promoted Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) promised a better tomorrow for employees of West Bengal's IT industry, but the enthusiasm level of the attending masses did not seem to be encouraging enough.

Lukewarm applause met CITU leader Shyamal Chakraborty's bid to take up cudgels against employers who did not issue appointment letters to their employees, pay their provident fund (PF) or provide them facilities under the Employees' State Insurance (ESI).

"Units of this association will soon be formed in three IT companies in the city," he added.

CITU would welcome the employees of bigger multinational companies to join. "We are not happy with the United Progressive Alliance or the earlier National Democratic Alliance governments' labour policies. The formation of this IT union does not mean we want to hamper the growth of the industry here by promoting strikes. We simply want the welfare of the workers," re-iterated Chakraborty.

CITU would take ITSA to other IT destinations in the country as there was a need for it.

Chakraborty said he already had five companies under the scanner for terminating employees without notice, all of them home-grown BPO units.

Chakraborty's comrades were concerned about the amount of money the Indian BPOs and IT companies were pocketing, which, according to them, should actually be shared with employees in the form of higher salary.

Employees of larger IT companies said a collective approach to issues like increasing work pressure and insurance was welcome, but an association should ideally be a-political.

White-collar workers would rather keep political intervention out while securing their dues.