Increasing layoffs forcing IT employees to form unions

India could soon see its first union of techies, given the large scale layoffs by Indian IT companies in the recent past.

"The Forum for Information Technology Employees (FITE) will be getting itself registered formally as the first union for IT employees in India," said forum's vice-president Vasumathi. "We are expecting this to happen within next five months."

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Off lately, a large number of IT majors in the country have resorted to layoffs, which has been termed as "illegal termination" by employees.

FITE has over 1,000 online members and around 100 active members, with active presence in nine cities, including Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Pune, Mumbai, Kochi and Delhi.

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In the past too, the group has been involved in battles for IT employees who were indiscriminately sacked by their employers.

On these layoffs, Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar had stated that IT sector should be revising the skill set every now and then so that it can keep up with the emerging technologies.

"The IT employees also know the need to learn continuously and grow with the organisation. It is the responsibility of employers to foresee the change in technological trend and re-skill the employees accordingly," said Vasumathi.

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She added that the IT companies are laying off employees keeping in mind their profit, under the pretence of "poor performance" by employees.

(Image source: Huffington Post Canada)