West Bengal might soon become the fourth state in the country after Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu with an IT sector trade union.
The Kolkata Forum for Information Technology Employees on Saturday said it had applied for the trade union registration in Information Technology, Information Technology Enabled Services, Business Process Outsourcing and Knowledge Process Outsourcing industries. The forum is part of the national platform - Forum for IT Employees, which was established in 2014.
The forum has an elected president, secretary and treasurer apart from 180 employees who have registered as members. "We plan to enrol 5,000 members," said forum's president Santanu Bhattacharya.
He further added that the plan to register the trade union was "triggered and accelerated" by unfair labour practices which the employees could not resist in their personal capacity.
The forum's general secretary, Rajashri Dawn, stated that despite having various heads for cost-cutting most IT companies choose labour is the only means of reducing operating costs.
However, even without having a formal registration the members had tried to guide various employees in the process of filing disputes at the Labour Commission and later in their legal fights.
