Bengaluru based FITE (The Forum for Information Technology Employees), is going to formally register itself as the first ever union of techies in the country. The comes in the wake of mass layoffs by leading IT companies of the country.
In a statement given to PTI, Vasumathi, Vice President FITE told that the process of registration and other legal formalities will be completed within the next 5 months. This is decided in order to take action against “illegal termination” of IT employees by the leading companies of India.
FITE had first come into notice in 2008, when it had started a protest supporting Tamils in Sri Lanka. After that, it has been involved in various issues concerning IT employees across the major cities of India. Currently, it has over 1000 online members and 100 active members with a presence in 9 cities including Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Delhi, Mumbai and Kochi.
According to a report of Head Hunters India, there will be an average of 1.5 lakh – 2 lakh employee layoffs in next 3 years. This is mainly because of increasing effect of automation and under preparedness to adopt the newer technologies. According to the report, IT industry in India employs 3.9 million people and to be on par, half of them will have to be updated with the newer technologies.
Vasumathi alleged that the companies are illegally terminating the employees to retain their profit margins. She further added that this move will harm the performance of companies in a longer run.