On Thursday, reports emerged from Cognizant, that the company will be executing mass entrenchments of Indian employees across India. Labour unions in Bengaluru and Chennai have alleged that 18,000 employees will be affected. The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) has challenged Cognizant and is urging strong government action against the company.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many major companies have been facing pay cuts and entrenchment. Now, Cognizant to seems to have joined the list.
KITU alleges mass entrenchments at Cognizant
The pandemic has indeed had a huge impact on large firms and in the IT sector. Now reports have emerged from Cognizant about the possibility of mass entrenchments at the IT firm across India. 18,000 employees have been benched at the moment eliciting response from the KITU.
The Karnataka Union has threatened government action against the firm. Employees at Cognizant told The New Indian Express that employees are being benched for 30-45 days and were asked to resign, being blamed for not being able to acquire new projects.
According to labour laws, a company with over 100 employees needs the labour department's approval for carrying out layoffs. The KITU has declared solidarity and support to the employees and in an FB post, "The reports on large scale layoffs are coming from 'Cognizant' in the name of 'effectively managing workforce utilisation'. Thousands of employees all over India are going to be the victims of this. Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (#KITU) strongly condemns this illegal and inhuman decision taken by the management of Cognizant."
KITU added, "Several victimized employees approached KITU, and Union is initiated legal battle against the Cognizant management for this illegal action." About layoffs it said, "Rebranding a layoff by arguing that employees voluntarily resigned when they were, in fact, forced to resign, is also against the law. KITU urges all the affected employees to refuse to resign if asked to do so by the company."
The company is yet to respond to the reports on the matter and further details are awaited, which will be published as and when received.
