Ref 2: Time and Importance for United IT Associates in IT Industry - India

When companies can form a union or forum like NASSCOM then there is need for all IT & ITES professionals to have a representation.

The Forum should work with a charter to bring / build a bridge between companies and employees to safe guard thier interests, protect basic rights and a crucial role to play in the growth of IT Industry in India.

In Future :

One thing is for sure.. If any company thinks they are most ethical, good in corporate governance and investor freindly then there is no reason for them not be employee friendly there by they should also promote IT UNION / IT ASSOCIATE FORUMS in thier companies.

I feel very bad even from employees side... they are only focussed on thier work, pay and growth but they have ignored thier social responsibility..

And in this tough times the only target is them only ( the employees ). Its time all employees wake up and be aware of thier basic rights, roles and responsibilities in the society.

Some Ideas and Direction:

Once all the IT & ITES professionals form an Union / Association they should voluntarly contribute at least 1 % of thier income to growth society or up liftment of other industry. The Union should show case the WORLD same way the Industry developed and show cased to the Global / International community.

First IT Company:

There fore I suggest the FIRST Company that should start work in this direction is INDIA's favorite IT bench mark company INFOSYS ( http://www.infosys.com ). When they can set bench marks in investor returns, corporate governace, ethical, employee friendly, also gives back to society then there is no reason for them not to show case other companies that they can also support IT UNION / IT ASSOCIATES / IT EMPLOYEES FORUM. This will send right signals to other companies too.

Hello Sir : Do you hear me ?

Let Mr. Narayana Murthy guide this forum.. I feel he is the best person to lead this Initiative and take forward.

There is no reason for him to be not kind enough to the IT employees.

Its also sad that in IT Industry PEOPLE ( professionals ) are only assests to companies but companies ignore thier ASSETS during the bad times and also the first target in their cost cutting plans.

What is hurting ?

Most of the IT companies are still making 30 % profit and still have plenty of cash...it is not fair for them to lay off people. Govt should interefer IMMIDIATELY ON SU MOTO CASE that only loss making IT companies should lay off as last measure.

Simple question to all IT companies running under ( STPI ):

When Govt allots land and infra., power on nominal rates, tax exemption benefits to the companies are they not using public / people's assets / property for thier own use ? How can they ignore and send people out ? Are the people or MACHINES ?

Request : All good / common sense and socially responsible professionals should think and contribute to society they are in and to the Industry ..finally to thier own good future.

The below article is one good example of what to expect in the future...

Jai Hind.

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News item / article published in TIMES OF INDIA dated: 01st May, 2009

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Techies say ‘no’ to pink slips
Mini Joseph Tejaswi TNN

Bangalore: The IT/BPO workers’ association, UNITES Professionals India, will run a ‘Stop the pink slip’ signature campaign between May 1 and 31. The organization hopes to collect over a lakh signatures from tech workers in Bangalore, Hyderabad, Delhi, Chennai, Mumbai, Kolkata, Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram and submit it to industry body Nasscom on June 2. The move is aimed at urging employers to explore upbuilding/creative cost-cutting options, rather than layoffs. “A large number of employees today fear losing their jobs. It’s adversely impacting their performances. So it’s very important to create a safe and secure work atmosphere,’’ said Karthik Shekhar, secretary general, UNITES. Multiple channels like online, offline and Second Life will be used to take the month-long campaign across. “Pink-slipping is alien to India. Instead of firing, companies should focus on staff training, skill enhancement or learning of new languages like Chinese, Russian, German, French. They should realise that bench sitters are live intellectual bodies and not perishable commodity. And getting rid of jobs via the new-found, unscientific, biased performance evaluation is unfair,’’ said Shekhar. “It’s impossible to believe that all tax-free revenues racked up by tech/BPO firms over the years have dried up. Many companies are using recession as an excuse to prune jobs and salaries,’’ said Aadil Nagrath, a BPO employee. “Being sacked gave me a crazy feeling of uncertainty. I woke up one morning to realise that I have nowhere to go and no money is going to reach me until I find another job. It has nothing to do with pink, it’s only about being in deep red, black and blue,’’ said Cherill (name changed), a senior technology professional who was laid off by Wipro. In the campaign, each IT/BPO employee will be asked to sign a pink card, addressed to Nasscom chairman Pramod Bhasin, that will say, among other things, that issuance of pink slips should happen only if the sustainability of a company is at risk.

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