Why tech workers are protesting

KITU has asked the labour department to investigate the unregulated work culture in tech companies. 'Eight to nine working hours is a myth'.

On March 16, hundreds of tech sector employees protested against ‘anti-worker practices’ outside the Labour Commissioner’s office in Bengaluru. They argued these practices go unchecked because the IT/ITeS sector has been exempted from the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) [IE(SO)] Act, 1946. 

Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU), behind the protest, said companies at large have not met the conditions that were laid down at the time of giving the exemption (see box). They want the exemption to be scrapped.

Employees of India’s IT capital share the reasons behind this outcry.

‘8-hour work a myth’

A 25-year-old contractual worker says he was sacked from his first job because he “wasn’t working enough”. “They expected us to work until 3 am. It was an unspoken rule. Seven-eight times, I conceded and worked until midnight,” Anay (name changed) says. This was when his company was handling a project for a global investment banking firm.

When he demanded extra pay and compensatory leave for working overtime, the HR department told him “young people should work hard”. “I admit I didn’t know what my contract said about working overtime,” he recalls. He would like clear rules on extra work and extra pay.

Suman Das Mahapatra is convenor of All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union (AIITEU), Karnataka. “Earlier, employees were paid double the hourly wage for extra work. Now, under the Code on Wages, overwork bonus or ex gratia are not mandatory,” he says.

This is concerning for freshers. Mahapatra reasons, “Their base salary hasn’t increased in a decade despite the inflation. The average joining package is still Rs 3-3.5 lakh.”

KITU has asked the labour department to investigate the unregulated work culture in tech companies. “Eight to nine hours is a myth,” general secretary Sooraj Nidiyanga says.

‘Arbitrary firing rampant’

Mamta (name changed) was ousted from a mid-sized IT company last November. She was given “no good reason” and “no severance package”. “The termination letter mentioned ‘role redundancy’. I don’t buy that. I was working on relevant technology like Azure API,” she says. While her husband is employed, she says it’s a struggle to pay EMIs, medical bills, and their children’s school fees.

The 38-year-old filed a case with the labour department after her retrenchment. She fears this has led to her ex-employer putting her on a ‘blacklist’. “I have 12 years of work experience but I am not getting any response to my job applications,” she says.

In the recent past, AIITEU has represented 15 cases where severance packages to employees in Bengaluru were denied. “We won two cases and the companies were ordered to pay three months’ salary in compensation,” says Mahapatra.

KITU has filed more than 50 cases over illegal termination. Nidiyanga explains the procedures these companies are flouting: “In case of a mass layoff, a company has to inform the labour department and let go of the latest set of employees first. If they are expelling employees for misconduct like violating confidentiality, they must conduct an internal enquiry and give the employees a chance to defend themselves. Currently, companies are firing people for underperformance. But when we investigate, that’s hardly the case.”

Mahapatra says companies are targeting middle management and hiring multiple freshers on lower salaries instead. “They say their skills are dated. If you don’t help them upskill, it’s ageism,” he says. Women employees have it worse, these unions claim. Their performance is questioned after they announce their wedding or pregnancy, and when they return from maternity break. “They are denied hikes and promotions and are eventually dismissed. We are fighting four maternity-related cases,” says Nidiyanga.

The rot runs deeper in small startups compared to bigger companies. They threaten with bad work experience letters if employees don’t resign voluntarily. Freshers are dismissed without experience certificates. “Employees who are rehired are supposed to do an ‘internship’ of three to four months to ease into the process. The companies put them on live projects, get the work done, and fire them soon after, saying they are not fit for the job,” alleges Mahapatra.

Employer over employee

Mahapatra says the new Code on Social Security has reduced the contribution to the Employees Provident Fund from 12% to 10%. Worse, it leaves out contractual employees.

Overall, the new labour codes favour employers over employees. “It says the management will decide which employee union they want to negotiate with,” Mahapatra says.

Withdraw the exemption: Union

Under the exemption rules, companies had to constitute internal committees to handle sexual harassment of women at the workplace, set up grievance redressal committees, inform government bodies while terminating employees, and standardise service conditions.

The exemption given to the IT/ITeS sector from the IE(SO) Act ends on May 25. KITU has submitted a memorandum to the labour department and a writ petition in the high court challenging the exemption. If not renewed, the sector will come under the state’s labour department. AIITEU, on the other hand, wants the IT sector to come under the regulation of the Centre.