THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as the recent formation of a trade union in Karnataka and interventions made by trade unions against lay-offs by IT majors in cities like Chennai and Bengaluru had sown seeds of trade unionism in Kerala, fear of retaliatory actions by managements is forcing the techies to hush up their activism. The major trade unions are, however, keen to have trade unions in the IT sector as they feel that exploitation of workforce in the sector is quite high.
An earlier attempt by CITU to form a trade union of IT employees had not received much response. CITU state chief Ananthalavattam Anandan said that it was for techies to decide if there should be trade unions in the sector to protect their rights. “We personally feel that exploitation of workers is quite high. If the techies approach us, we will help them form trade unions,” he told this newspaper, adding that so far no such matter was under CITU’s consideration. Many techies at Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram and Infopark in Kochi are keen on forming trade unions.
After the recent formation of trade union of IT employees in Karnataka, a lot of discussion in this regard took place among techies in Kerala IT parks too. Many techies were even active in school and college politics. Since the number of techies in IT parks in the state is very low compared to that of neighbouring states, the chances of being identified in case of any association with trade unions is high, the techies fear. “Obviously company managements do not favour trade unions. Hence, any employee initiating it will face the ire of the management and would in turn affect his future career,” said a Technopark employee. Meanwhile, there were unconfirmed reports that a social media platform of techies desirous of forming trade unions was already formed in the state.
