Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) could become unionized

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-792570,curpg-1.cms

ECONOMICTIMES.COM
[ WEDNESDAY, JULY 28, 2004 12:25:40 AM ]
NEW DELHI:

Swank offices, young crowd and increasing salaries - these are the blessings of BPO wave to name a few. This sector, thriving on the outsourced projects, is full of carefree young employees who are enjoying money and BPO lifestyle and thats it.

Till now the sector has been away from any kind of unionism. But the bug is fast catching on here also. Trade unionism is entering the infotech bastion, reaching out to the low-wage sweatshops that business process outsourcing outfits have become.

The global Union Network International has launched a new organisation that targets workers in Indian back-offices . The Centre for Business Process Outsourcing Professionals has been launched in Hyderabad and Bangalore and will be formally registered in August.

The centre has already begun talks with BPO outfits in Noida, Chennai, Mumbai and Pune. The organisation claims to have about 200 members and expects its ranks to swell to more than 5,000 by year-end.

The rise of a trade union in BPO space has spooked the industry, which has already been under fire in the US and Europe for spiriting away jobs to the sub-continent. Some experts say that this could kill the BPO boom in the country, which even the powerful India-bashing lobby in the US has not managed. "This is bad news for the sector," Pavan Duggal, a senior cyber lawexpert and Supreme Court advocate, told the Telegraph."Over the last few years, the BPO segment has emerged as a major foreign exchange earner. Growing trade unionism will kill this industry.

The centre does not term itself a union, but its mandate is not much different. "We are not a union; it is an old word, we are a forum. However, we will take up issues that need to be addressed to ensure the well-being of the workers," centre chairman J.S.R. Prasad told The Telegraph.

The centre will be registered as a forum affiliated to the Union Network International, linked to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. Major Indian trade unions are members of the latter, which will make the centre another union.

He also said that the BPO industry is unregulated and has many problems. The managements do not take care of the workers' health or fix proper working hours. There is no job security. Salary structure, job security and the future of workers in an organisation are on the agenda.