IT-BPO trade union Unites Professional India is to discuss problems relating to layoffs and training for non-performers at its first meeting with Nasscom on 5 December.

In recent times, Indian IT-BPO firms have seen termination for non-performance like never before. In any IT-BPO company about five per cent of the employees come under the category of low or non-performance. But the trade union body feels a lot can be done in order to turn non-contributors to contributors.

Karthik Shekhar, Unites Professionals India general secretary, questions, "Why don’t we invest in non-performers? They may not be paid their full salaries for some time but their skills, teamwork and other problem areas can be worked on."

Shekhar, who says companies often make employees resign and spin it as voluntary attrition, said "We would like to see the data for the last three years and compare the number of those who left their jobs this year, voluntarily or not, with that last year."

The union is also in the process of filing public interest litigation (PIL) against IT companies making employees work for longer hours than the mandated eight hours per day under the Indian Factories Act, 1948. Some of India's biggest IT firms, like Infosys and Wipro, which have increased their working hours to 9.15 and 9.5 hours per day, will be put under the scanner.

Representatives from the UNI’s global headquarters and India chapter will meet Nasscom vice-president Raju Bhatnagar on 5 December.

"Unites" stands for Union for Information Technology-Enabled Services. The union has over 15,000 members among the two million IT-ITeS professionals in India. It is a part of UNI, a global union for skills and services that claims to have 20 million members across the world. X

Check Out
IT Examiner
Economic Times