The need for employee unity - Exploitation in technopark IT companies
January 26th, 2007
I am a regular reader of Kerala Sabdam malayalam weekly. In this week’s issue, kerala shabdam has an interesting article titled “slavery and exploitation in Kerala IT industry!”.
The author/article is highly biased (kerala sabdam claims to be neutral, but in general leans to left) against IT companies. He says that there is widespread exploitation of employees in Technopark and claims that only trade unionism can save people (yeah, right!).
I admit that there is some truth in his article. But he uses traces of truth to drive his own trade union agenda. Jayachandran says that we shouldn’t loose our great tradition (of lockouts and job loss I guess!) by entertaining IT comapnies.
Now there is one point which the author completely misses. In technopark almost all companies (except some big ones) belong to a “company association” (I think it is known as GTEC) . If you want to move out from one company to other you need to get an NOC (no objection certificate!) - some companies refuse to give it when employees move out. To me this is the worst kind of employee exploitation, since employees are virtually locked to the company they work.
Trade unionism as it now exists in other fields may not be the answer, but still employees needs to be united to fight things such as GTEC and NOC nonsense.
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January 26th, 2007 at 8:03 pm
I am in the IT field - and I can say that there is a huge demand for IT workers. If someone thinks that they are being exploited, they can change companies with ease. If you have a problem with NOC, just move to a company outside Technopark.
But unions are not the answer - I have lived in Kerala all my life - and can say that unions are the worst thing that could happen to the IT field in Kerala.
January 26th, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I am a former employee of one of the companies in Technopark. The thing mentioned about NOC and GTEC is true. For example: Person in company A in Technopark should work outside Technopark for 6 months before they can apply to Company B in Technopark which i think is a stupid rule.
As regards trade unions, I would say NO. I know they started something in Bengal. But I would defintely not adovcate trade unions. The day trade unions come into IT, India’s IT boom will go down and America and Europe will start outsourcing to other countries.
Having said that, I feel there should be some kind of a leash on IT companies as exploitations is definitely there. Making people work 24/7 to meet tight deadlines and in the paying them peanuts. Such sort of exploitaion has to stop. Its not just in technopark its there in each and every IT company.
When a person asks a manager for leave, there is very little sympathy for even a geniuine cause.
In call centers people are not allowed to take > 3 “bio-breaks”. Such restrictions are really too much.
Also people are made to work on National Holidays too. Will any american work on an American Independancee day? No. But they treat as slaves and make us work on all our holidays. There should be some sort of such clause in the company contracts that should provide holidays on National and Festival Holidays
January 26th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
There is no doubt that the NOC thing is simply illegal and it won’t stand a chance in any court. Just like the bonds you sign when you join a company. Of course the answer to this is not trade unionism. Has anyone bothered to fail a case against one of these companies in court against these kind of exploitation?
January 26th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
@Unni
You have put the issue in better perspective. As you have said, things such as “maximum 3 bio breaks” must be tackled by government even if it means bringing new laws on IT companies. Yeah, there are many guys who work for more than 16 hours per day and end up loosing their health and family life.
January 26th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
@Kuttan,
Who in the right mind would file a case in court? The case may drag for years and centuries while the NOC itself is for 6 months!
Yeah, reality sucks!
January 27th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Trade Unions is not answer, once trade union comes you need a leader,then a sarathchandraprasad or n.sivankutty or mukundan is reqd as common member have no experience in demanding and getting our rights. Once one union comes the three will come as cong,cpm,bjp. Then sometimes the CEO or employer will be attacked by rss or dyfi or cong (oh they dont have guts) , that will be start of anarchy and end of technopark.
At the same time a unity is required, but Keralaites have no such thing, we divide like ameaba and grow, so better live like this. Being a govt IT employee I feel we are treated like slaves as we also dont have unions.
Better democratic ways inside campus is ideal solution
March 12th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
I have gone through the pain of working in Technopark.I worked in a comapny called [Company X] run by a fraud called Shaji.Infact there is a nexus between technpark authorities and such unethical business men and technopark authorities help such businessmen to exploit employees.I think Technopark authorities can be easily bribed with few thousand Rupee..I had to work there with out salaries for around six months.
When we tried contact Technopark charman for this issue we got Really funny answers..like He is in office but has stomach upset so he is in toilet all the day…or.. He is in important discussion with Bill Gates regrading starting microsoft office in technopark..etc
Finally when I left company company owed me Rs 3 lakh which include a security deposit.The technopark officials let that fraud to run away with all the money to US.Any way I went out from technopark to bangalore to join some proffessional IT company and I decided I will never ever work in Technopark or in a company run by a mallu.
March 26th, 2007 at 2:10 pm
All of you are right? Many companies including infosy, us technology are forcing people to work late without giving any basic facilities like good food or transport
December 6th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
As usual in kerala SOME guys have formed some namesake companies and have started operating in technopark to take advantage of the address. They are cash starved and they depend on bonds of employees and the like with no solid business plan. people should detest joining them . please note that there are some companies that are functioning very well .
Employees should network together forma a profesional association and pass information to each other use the web effectively. Such companies will have to pack up.
We should realise why IT work is coming to our country in the first place it is because of the cost advantage and requires lot of skill and effort and getting it done elsewhere is costly ot because we are great or because of any divine right.
February 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 am
You have your facts wrong regarding GTEC. There are only 26 members in GTEC. Go to GTECIndia.org for the names of those companies. They all are companies who have been here fr a while.
Most companies are not part of GTEC. Actually, the company i work for frequently hire resources from other companies in technopark. GTEC sent an email. My CEO pretty much told them to take a walk.
June 25th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
There is also exploitation against ladies in some small companies in Technopark. For example, in [Company X] and [Company Y], ladies are expelled when they become pregnant citing other reasons. Another company called [..] Networks follow jail-like rules to employees. Therefore, Trade Unionism is needed.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:19 am
Hi ,
I am shocked with the post above. [Company X] was started just an year ago, the first lady was hired inspite of the fact she was about 6 months pregnant at the time of hiring. She took a maternity leave with full benefits from the company and joined back the firm after that. Even now we are all giving full support and flexibility when it comes to handling family emergencies. Let me add that we are a bunch of 4 happy ladies at [Company X], enjoying respect, love and dignity. We have a great team at [Company X] and I love the company because it offers benefits, freedom and flexibility more than other companies in Technopark.
September 1st, 2008 at 10:21 am
These are false statements and the reality is something different. These may be posted by the company management themselves. I know of empoyees from these companies myself. So management don’t lie!!!!
September 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
The last sentence should read: “So management, don’t lie”
September 7th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
@tat
True. FT, ST and VN are fraud anti-employee companies in Technopark.
October 30th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
These are companies in AMSTOR Building and NILA
November 2nd, 2008 at 2:51 am
[...] get me wrong here. I was never a big fan of Kerala based IT companies. I had earlier written about their bad business practices. For example, GTECH is a sort of “IT company union” which promotes and enforces [...]
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:43 am
I was one among , probably 200 employees who was given a pink slip by a technopark company,[S] in the year 2003. No reasons were given and one fine morning you were out . All relatives & friends of the MD & directors were retained , irrespective of how bad they were. It’s told that there will be pink slipping there , this year too . So pls watch out . ( relatives, friends need not worry )
November 10th, 2008 at 12:30 am
GTEC only has 29 companies as members. There are around 200 companies in tpark. So let us not say that almost all companies are part of GTEC. Most of the members are companies who set up initially in tpark.
The fact is most companies do not follow this NOC business. Nowadays even GTEC members are ignoring this rule and when there is a need will go right ahead and hire resources from other companies in tpark.