Techies can form unions at workplace: Tamil Nadu government

CHENNAI: IT companies in Tamil Nadu have diligently kept their 4.5 lakh workforce insulated from trade unionism. That could change as the state government, in reply to a petition by a labour union, has said software company employees too have the rights to form unions.

Replying to a petition filed by Puthiya Jananayaga Thozhilalar Munnani, state labour secretary Kumar Jayant wrote: "IT company employees also are free to form trade unions and redress their grievances through evoking the provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act 1947. Any trade union with IT employees as its members can rise industrial disputes under section 2 (k) of the act and seek remedy."

The IT sector sees this as a retrograde gesture, while unions see it as an acknowledgment of employee rights. Trade unions, which have been restricted to factories, have been trying to get a foothold in the $118-billion IT sector that employs nearly four million people.

While forming a trade union was always a right, employers have been successful in preventing unionization of tech companies. Trade union activists have been bemoaning lack of support from government for employee rights.

Last month, the Madras High Court stepped in to quash the dismissal of a software engineer of HCL Technologies on the grounds of poor performance. Rejecting the company's objections, the judge said a software engineer was indeed a workman.

According to the Industrial Disputes Act, 'workman' means any person employed in any industry doing any manual unskilled, skilled, technical, operational, clerical, or supervisory work, for hire or reward, whether the terms of the employment be express or implied.