Employee unions go high-tech

TRENDS: New generation workers are harnessing IT to get their due.

India's changing corporate culture is rubbing off on employee unions. They have become more IT-savvy and are using laptops and other gizmos to gain the upper hand in negotiations with managements.

They are no longer at the receiving end of management diktats, nor do they make do with token settlements. During the dispute over contract wages at the Honda Motorcycle and Scooters India Limited (HMSI) factory at Manesar (Haryana) late last year, the union convinced the management and the Haryana labour department that their wages were lower than those paid across the auto-industry. Aided by a laptop presentation, it forced both the company and the labour department to accept their terms.

Says A Malik, Haryana's deputy labour commissioner: "The new generation leaders are more aware of their rights and responsibilities and are going high-tech to drive home their points. They are well-versed with productivity issues and are co-relating them with their annual hikes and increments."

Experts say the presence of over 250 IT companies in Gurgaon and the infiltration of technology into daily life has helped empower workers' unions. Companies are adopting better business practices to meet their employees' aspirations. JCB India Limited, the market leader in earth moving equipment, has been turned around with active employee participation.

Says Rajiv Kapoor, the company's vice-president for HR & IT: "Our union leaders cannot be challenged on business-related and legislative issues. We adopted a model of transparent and effective communication with them, that helped us to achieve a five-fold net increase in our productivity. It now takes just 85 hours to produce a new machine, compared to 260 hours earlier."

Two-wheeler market leader Hero Honda, whose plant was hit by a strike a few months back, changed tack and now considers its employees its partners.

Says N N Akhouri, the HR head at Hero Honda: "Technology is cutting the gap and we are coming close on all industrial issues. Based on feedback from the employees union we are adopting gizmos and making greater use of SMSs and e-mails to communicate effectively with our unions."