Unions in IT sector?

This refers to ‘IT’s best to leave them alone’ (April 12). Trade union is not merely a body that is custodial of employees’ welfare. It is also to be viewed as a key forum in promoting and safeguarding industrial relations and, thereby, reaping mutual benefits. Today, the trade union is completely dominated by political parties which are being looked upon by the union members as their saviour. But some parties, pretending to be working in the interests of employees, continue to wield its power and navigate the unions to their political advantages.

In a knowledge-driven industry like IT, where the people with enough skills would be better placed and treated well, the significance of trade union is undermined. When companies in the IT industry take efforts to design a dynamic work environment in a way that engages employees actively, no demand for setting up unions would emanate from within the industry, especially from employees. Technological advancements such as AI, automation, and robotics would certainly downsize the workforce to some extent as happened in trade union-dominated banking and automobile sectors.

Cuddalore, TN

In our country labour unions are there in almost every industrial establishment and most of them do play a powerful role in managing labour relations and, at times, even in controlling of operations. Although it is desirable to have unions, the workers, on their part, should not take advantage of the power that could be exercised by the unions and dictate terms to the management. As far as political parties are concerned, it is better they are not allowed to interfere in the affairs involving workers and their owners.

Coimbatore

A visibly weak and frail (and easily recognisable) Julian Assange being forcibly removed from the Ecuador embassy in London by Metropolitan Police made a poignant image. It was a disgrace that the pro-American Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno terminated the world’s most famous whistleblower’s asylum and paved the way for his arrest. It is particularly worrying for us to know that he may be extradited to the US. The documents and videos Assange published showed the war crimes committed by the US forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is long settled that a journalist cannot be prosecuted for making available classified information in public domain in the public interest. Still Assange is singled out for prosecution for publishing classified diplomatic cables and exposing the dreadful and diabolical dark side to the US before the world.

Accessing and publishing concealed yet truthful information is not a cyber-crime. It is legitimate to ask if he is to be prosecuted for ‘conspiracy to commit computer intrusion’, shouldn’t those responsible for the merciless killings of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan be prosecuted more vigorously.

Maruthancode, TN

Political parties are vying with each other in giving freebies. Not only are the two mainstream parties, the BJP and the Congress, in competitive populism but the regional parties are also not lagging behind in announcing freebies if they are brought to power. Late J Jayalalithaa-led AIADMK had announced free TVs, computers, cycles, etc., to woo the electorate. In Karnataka, the regional party JD(S) had announced waiver of farm loan without giving a little thought over the intricacies of such an announcement.

Now the Kumaraswamy government, which had announced that it would waive farm loans within 24 hours of coming to power, has been struggling hard to keep up the promise even 10 months after. A public interest litigation petition has to be filed in the Supreme Court urging it to intervene in the matter and put brakes on non-stop announcement of freebies by the contesting parties.

Hassan, Karnataka

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