News

Reports from the UNITES Project Steering Committee and Annual UNITES/ SASK Project Review Meeting in KL, Malaysia displayed UNITES’ tenacity and success in organising in India. UNITES Professional is now a union registered in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and  Keralas with a membership across India, and the union will continue to evolve into a federation for ICT employees to voice the concerns of the sector and ensure better working conditions.

Milind Nadkarni, President of UNI ILC, said that UNITES has been the only credible organisation to make foray in organising IT workers where national centres in India and many labour leaders failed to do so. 

Karthik Sekhar, G.S of UNITES, acknowledged the support of UNI ILC, the cluster approach, and the momentum gathered after Kathmandu meeting which was developed further after the meeting in Mumbai this August.

Gopakumar and his team in Kochi, Kerala were also applauded for their tenacity and success in registering UNITES when their registration was repeatedly rejected by the Labour Department in Kerala.

Among its acheivements, UNITES has taken steps to engage members and the public by making information accessible on their new website. The website reaches out to organise more workers, and is especially appealing to young workers and ICT professionals.  The union has now more than 25000 members who are active on its website and has received 600 new members in last 4 months.

J.S.R.Prasad, Director of UNIDOC Hyderabad, said that they will ultilise the website and continue to contact active online members who are based in and around Hyderabad. Prasad also reported that 5 CBAs covering the grievance handling procedure, representation of workers, and health and safety at the workplace have been signed in Hyderabad.

A panel discussion headed by Mohamed Shafie BP Mammal, UNI MLC and consisting of Kazuhiro Goto, ICTJ Japan, Prakash Baral, UNICTS Nepal, and Karthik Shekhar, UNITES was also arranged to inject fresh ideas in the UNITES project. Some of the ideas include methods to conclude CBAs, organizing at the shop floor, and how NgN and workshops may be further utilized.

Christopher Ng, Regional Secretary of UNI Apro, commended the progress shown by all clusters. He appreciated the efforts put in by Prasad, Gopakumar and Milind from UNI ILC, and was certain that the UNITES Federation will be formed in 2014.

UNITES will continue its focus on Recruiting, Registering & getting Recognition by signing CBAs with ICT firms. The online campaigns will continue to ensure more paying members are bought into the UNITES fold. UNITES will also develop good industrial relations in Asia and internationally as ICT workers are increasingly mobile.