Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the biggest Indian IT company, issued an internal circular on 29 July, announcing that it was throwing 12,000 of its employees out of their jobs. This massive layoff comes soon after the company introduced a new bench policy, according to which those employees who cannot find project work within 35 days of completing their previous assignment will lose their job. In line with this policy, the company has already started phasing out hundreds of staff in Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Kolkata. The company has also indicated that there would be no annual salary increment.
The situation is extremely grim for thousands of workers whose sweat and toil has generated massive profits for this Tata company. Those who are on the bench are being forced to resign. Those who are raising their voices against this injustice are being threatened with blacklisting (so they cannot get jobs elsewhere at any time) and their payments are being held back.
The Karnataka IT employees union (KITU) has registered a complaint with the Labour Commissioner of Bengaluru about these layoffs. It has pointed out that TCS has committed a punishable offence under the Industrial Disputes Act. According to the ID Act, companies employing more than 100 workers are required to obtain prior government approval before carrying out any layoffs or retrenchments.
The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has filed a complaint with the Union Ministry of Labour against the illegal layoffs announced by TCS. Calling it a blatant and wilful violation of the law, NITES has pointed out that according to existing laws, no employee who has served for over a year can be retrenched unless the company provides one month’s notice or wages in lieu, pays statutory retrenchment compensation, and notifies the government.
In its communication to the Ministry of Labour, NITES has stated, “At a time when India’s digital economy is being celebrated on global platforms, it is painful to witness how the very employees who build and support this industry are being subjected to such regressive treatment.”
IT workers are today being made to pay for the anarchy that is a feature of the capitalist system. Workers are being made to pay for the drastic fall in demand for IT services, because of developments like artificial intelligence. Capitalists do not want to spend any money re-skilling their workers. They exploit them to the bone as long as their services bring in profits, and then discard them as “non-critical” or citing “skill mismatch”.
IT workers are an important contingent of the working class in our country. While capitalist companies always try to isolate workers and make them compete with one another, the interests of the workers lie in uniting and collectively organising to fight for their rights, including the right to secure livelihood.
The struggle in defence of workers’ rights must be waged with the perspective of replacing the rule of the bourgeoisie with the rule of workers and peasants. Under workers’ and peasants’ rule, the economic system can be reoriented to meet the needs of all members of society, instead of being geared to maximise capitalist profits. It will then be possible to ensure secure livelihood for all.