Pune: In light of the massive lay offs in the information technology (IT) sector, affected IT employees, as well as current IT employees, have decided to present a united front in the layoff war. More and more employees who were laid off in the recent past are coming forward now to share their stories and demand explanations.
Under the leadership of Forum for IT Employees (FITE), IT employees have decided to fight their individual wars along with working together on the matter. Representatives from FITE said that thousands of IT employees only from Pune have already lost their jobs due to the crisis being faced in the IT industry.
Speaking to Sakal Times, representatives from FITE said that those affected feel that they are not covered under the law and may not get justice. “In order to spread awareness about their rights, we had organised a lawyers’ meet last week. We had been distributing pamphlets in IT corridors in Pune and Mumbai so that IT employees can learn about their rights in the war that is waging within the sector,” the representatives said.
The representatives further added that the event received a good response and numerous aggrieved as well as existing IT professionals attended the event. “Former judge from the Mumbai High Court, Justice BG Kolse Patil, member of Legal Rights Society, Anoop Awasthi, members from Lok Raj Sanghatan, members of Vishwakalyan Kamgar Sanghatana (Bajaj Auto Union), representatives from Shramik Ekta Mahasangh and various lawyers who are representing IT employees were among those who attended the event,” they said.
According to FITE, it was during this meeting that a decision to work together was taken. “It was clarified that aggrieved IT employees can get justice. Many people have come out in the open about their dismissals and also many are willing to volunteer for this cause,” the representatives said.
Speaking about the lay offs, representatives said that the modus operandi followed by IT companies is dismissing a target number of employees per quarter. “A large dismissal of 25,000 employees by a company a few years ago had caused a problem. So, companies now have targets such as laying off say 3,000 employees in a quarter. Hence, it was decided to work together,” the representatives added.
