By Ruma Dubey

The news from Tamil Nadu today was bleak. It has become the first state in India to allow employees of IT industry to form trade unions, bringing it under the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.

Yes, for those in the woods, in India, this was the one sector where there was no trade union but that is soon going to change. And we can blame it all on TCS!

It all began last year when news came in that TCS was sacking some 25,000 employees. TCS  later clarified that it was not 25,000 but some 3000 ‘underperformers’ and this was a part of its workforce restructuring.

When this news broke out, many employees of TCS got together and formed a loosely structured union to fight the management and prevent this sacking, known as Forum for IT Employees (FITE) and employees of TCS in Chennai and Bengaluru took the agitation to the streets to draw attention to their rights.

And this opened up a literal floodgate. Like a predator smelling blood, all ‘bit banner’ trade unions - left-wing CITU, right-wing BMS and INTUC, all took it upon themselves to “save” the employees of TCS. For them, this was a golden opportunity to bolster their strength. For years now, trade unions have tried to get a foothold in the IT sector but to no avail. CITU did form its Association of IT Employees in 2006 but its majority of its 30,000 members were from the Govt. AITUC’s New Generation IT Employees Union has been in existence since 2012 and it has some 1300 members only while INTUC’s Kerala State IT and Allied employees Association has no relevance. Thus it was quite understandable that these unions wanted to sink their teeth into this juicy pie.

This brings to mind two questions – 1) why is it that trade unions never got a standing in IT sector and 2) if Unions start ruling in this ‘last Shanghai’ how detrimental could that turn out for the IT sector?

Firstly, why no trade unions in IT till date? Well, a talk with some in the sector reveals that majority of the workforce being white collared, professional employees, somehow, there was never a common ‘cause’ for which they all came together and fought. The attitude amongst professionals unlike the blue collared factory shop worker is they do not need unions to protect themselves, they feel their performance alone decides their fate in the company. As a professional each one performs for oneself and there is no ‘unity’ like the blue-collared. And most feel that unionism is for not for them and quite happy with it. Those who get paid Rs.40-45 lakh per annum don’t need it and those who feel the need are the fresher’s or the juniors.

Then there is also the fear of getting black listed. If employees are known to create trouble in one IT company, they getting hired in another IT company will become very difficult.

Most important of all – trade unionism is for those who seek job security, for those wanting to stick around in one company till they retire. But in IT, people do not seek a job for security; it is always for better work content and higher pay and that is why this sector has probably one of the highest attrition rates. Thus in that context, what exactly will a trade union in IT industry work for?

And many feel that lack of unionism is probably the reason why the sector is able to perform so well, with no restriction to carry laggards just because the union demands so. IT is very people-centric, the entire business is run by people skills thus if unions come and restrict whom to hire or fire, it could seriously jeopardize the business.

In IT industry, really, trade unions should have no place because the sector is purely driven by performance alone. And if one does not perform, he/she is liable to get sacked; even for cost cutting only the poor performers should go. Getting trade unions to dictate terms to this highly people-oriented business will sound the death knell for the sector.