Forum for IT Employees (F.I.T.E) – Tamil Nadu is now the first ever registered IT Trade union in India and 3598/CNI is its registration number. With a General Body of 100+ members, a Working committee and an Office Bearer team, Forum for IT Employees (F.I.T.E) – Tamil Nadu has been registered as a Trade Union under the Trade Union Act (1926) by the Government of Tamil Nadu. Employees of various IT, BPO, KPO firms have signed up to be a member of F.I.T.E thus mandating this organization to function as a general Trade Union for IT/ITeS Employees.
December 29th 2014 was the day when Forum for IT Employees was launched. It was done at the backdrop of ‘TCS layoffs’ when IT Employees of various companies came together to form the organization and fight the layoffs. Post a successful intervention at the ‘TCS Layoffs’, issues of ‘layoffs’ or actually forced resignations by various IT companies were fought against by F.I.T.E in the past 2 years. Sexual harassment complaints, pending salaries, Income Tax disputes, confiscation of original documents of employees, blackmail of NSR blacklisting are some of the other problems we are pursuing against.
Awarding a registration status to Forum for IT Employees by the Government of Tamil Nadu re-establishes the fact that employees of IT sector should be considered as ‘Workmen’ and are eligible for the rights prescribed by the Industrial Disputes Act (1947). This also means a legal acknowledgement and a historical step further in IT Employees unionizing themselves. As long as the struggles of the working classes is a reality, the idea and necessity of Trade Unions will stay relevant. Owing to necessities and diverse nature of IT/ITeS sector, many Trade Union organizations may take shape in the coming days as it has already started to do so. Now post this registration, we at F.I.T.E shall campaign across the country with the demands of IT/ITeS Employees. Following F.I.T.E – Tamil Nadu chapter, our Kolkata, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Delhi chapters would complete their registrations at their respective states in due course of time. The President and General Secretary of F.I.T.E Tamil Nadu are P. Parimala and M. Sathiesh respectively. We request your support in our endeavours.
P. Parimala, M. Sathiesh,
President. General Secretary.
