The Hindu Business Line : ITES union urges staff safety measures

TRADE unionism in the country's IT-enabled services (ITES) sector has come to the fore with the recent rape and murder of an HP call centre employee by a taxi driver in Bangalore.

The Union for ITES Professionals (UNITES), with membership of over 5,000 employees across India, has taken the lead to push for employee safety measures. UNITES is affiliated to United Network International (UNI) and is politically neutral. UNI is a global union with 15 million members and 900 unions.

UNITES, condemning HP's `inability to provide adequate safety to its employees,' hoped this kind of incident would not occur again, said Mr Karthik Shekhar, general secretary, UNITES India. ITES companies should work with UNI's Global Call Centre Charter that is in place to protect employees, and for fair working conditions, he said.

Membership under wraps: UNITES was formed over the last one year. Membership of the union is under wraps as most fear employer action, Mr Shekhar said. The 5,000 members are working for some 130 companies, including multinationals, spread across the six cities of Bangalore, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kochi and the National Capital Region of Delhi.

Most companies had low priority for employees' safety once they stepped out of the office, said Mr Shekhar. UNITES' main demand was to ensure fair working conditions for all employees. UNITES had approached the Bangalore-based National Law School of India University to study the working conditions of ITES employees and also that of other allied jobs the sector has generated. The International Labour Organisation had come forward to sponsor the national executive of UNITES to be held later this month in Bangalore, he said.

CITU proposal: The Left-affiliated Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) had recently said that it proposed to set up a union to represent the IT and ITES sector's estimated 5,00,000 workers. The union is expected to address specific problems of such workers, which aren't governed by current labour laws.

The IT and BPO industry has consistently maintained that there is no felt need for unionism in the sector as companies offer good working conditions and best compensation, compared to other industries.