Top 10 questions pointed at FITE and FITE’s answers

F.I.T.E.’s responsibility to IT and ITES society

1) TCS problem and the agitation created – Is this a personal agenda of F.I.T.E.?

Certainly No. Even in the recent past, many companies like Yahoo, IBM, Dell laid off employees. But When TCS announced layoffs to as large as 25,000, it rattled the collective conscience of a small group of IT employees at Chennai. Unable to digest the brutal fact that employees are vulnerable at the hands of corporate giants, F.I.T.E. was born followed by spirited protests and heartwarming support. The current agenda is to protect the livelihood of thousands of prospective victims and seek justice for all those affected victims.

2) TCS has clarified that the number of layoffs in India is not even more than 1000. So will F.I.T.E. close down its activities?

Which murderer has accepted that he is indeed a murderer? On December 12th International Business Times reported about massive restructuring to a tune of 25000 in TCS. If the report is contended as rumor and there is no intention of massive layoffs, then why is it there are employees still coming out in clusters at various locations . The more cold blooded activity identified here is at the press conference they say “not more 1000 have been laid off” and inside office they arm-twist employees and make them resign. It is worth mentioning that when the labor commissioner called up TCS HR at Hyderabad and enquired about layoffs, the HR replied that 1000 had been laid off in Hyderabad alone in one month. Hence truth is not established. Till truth is established F.I.T.E. will only intensify its activities.

3) This is capitalism. If a company can hire, it can fire you as well. If you are sent out, go find another job and move on. Why do you create all this flutter?

A corporate company, for its ambitions of skyrocketing profits and safeguarding investors’ confidence will fire its employees. But labeling them as “Underperformers” is a career threatening cruelty. If the company has to fire, it has to do so as per the guidelines listed down in constitution of India. At present, TCS HRs are calling employees in the morning and are getting resignation signatures within evening. They have fixed their own compensation of three months and disrespect the laws of land which instructs them to provide compensation based on years of service.

4) Fine. So all these protests and demonstrations are just for getting these employees a few extra months of compensation. Isn’t it?

F.I.T.E.’s onslaught against these illegal layoffs have a much broader social implication. The number of engineering colleges and engineering graduates in our country are alarmingly increasing year over year. The current scenario is human resource exploitation. Any industry may not have a problem if the pyramid is correctly maintained – right from the start. But the current workforce structure in IT and ITES industry is depicted in the below diagram..

IT companies especially TCS has been aggressively recruiting fresh students – having tie-ups with various engineering colleges (Even in this storm, TCS has announced that it has planned to recruit 55,000 fresh students in this fiscal). These students are from various disciplines like Mechanical, Electronics, Bio-Technology etc. But post recruitment, these companies do not have enough number of growth opportunities for these students. An employee’s prime time is the early years in the company when she/he works for hours together. After 8-12 years of work extraction, when the employee is thrown out labeled as “underperformer”, she/he cannot find a job in other technology companies nor can go back to the field for which she/he originally studied after so many years.

5) Ok. This looks like a big problem. But what can you – a small group of concerned IT employees be able to do about it? It is a big corporate giant you are against.

F.I.T.E. is not anymore a small group. F.I.T.E. has chapters functioning across Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and soon in many other cities. Employees from various IT and ITES companies have united themselves as members of F.I.T.E. We have already tasted first success. Madras High Court had injected an interim stay order to illegal dismissal of an F.I.T.E. member and closed the case after TCS realized its mistake and took the employee back to work. Members from various other cities are petitioning the state’s labor commissioner and the commissioners are actively addressing the issue. All these days a mute TCS, is now coming out and giving out few numbers.

6) If the TCS layoffs problem is over, then will F.I.T.E. also go away?

No. F.I.T.E. is here to stay. F.I.T.E. will be a representative of IT and ITES society from the employees’ side. There are various issues faced by employees of IT and ITES companies. F.I.T.E. will bring out such atrocities to the outside world – just like we did for layoffs at TCS. All these days, problems were left for the individuals to face alone and so was left unheard. F.I.T.E. is powered by united might and so an individual’s problem will be the problem of a society and will be faced collectively.

7) So joining F.I.T.E. is about being adventurous. Being in protests, demonstrations etc…?

No. F.I.T.E. vouches to bring a much needed sense of “oneness” among employees of IT and ITES industry. The nature of work we indulge in, induces enormous amount of pressure – making us get disconnected from the outside world. Being present in a forum gives confidence that “I am not alone and I am part of a united society”.

8) How can I trust F.I.T.E. What if this is instigated by some political party trying to seek I.T employees’ votes?

Every single activity performed by F.I.T.E. is published on F.I.T.E.’s website and on Facebook. This is done to incorporate transparency and thereby earn trust and participation. Consultations with legal experts are in progress to make F.I.T.E., a registered body and get legal protection. Employees of various IT and ITES companies, following “F.I.T.E.” and “We Are Against TCS Layoffs” pages in Facebook are requested to attend the various chapter meetings held in various cities to understand that we are no one but just individuals from different IT and ITES companies united for a common cause.
F.I.T.E. is not associated to any political party and F.I.T.E. does not support any political party!

9) Where is the funding coming from for F.I.T.E.?

Initially, F.I.T.E. was funded by a handful of employees who also kick started the movement. At present, members from different cities are rendering contributions. A detailed set of expenses list was published on F.I.T.E.’s website. Soon we will publish the next set of expenses and contributions for the knowledge of followers of F.I.T.E.

10) Alright. I need to contribute towards fighting against this injustice and be a part of F.I.T.E. What shall I do?

Join F.I.T.E.