11.19.06, 6:00 PM ET
India’s technology industry, which has been merrily soaking up jobs from higher-cost countries, got a little shock last week when it had its first brush with organized labor.
The Center for Indian Trade Unions, a Communist group that represents several million employees across India, launched the West Bengal Information Technology Services Association in Kolkota. Since it’s not as much a union as an employee rights group, membership is voluntary.
Trade union leaders have accused technology-services firms of abuses ranging from firing employees without notice to not providing transport for workers leaving late-night jobs.
For now, however, there probably won’t union halls full of job-hungry computer geeks looking for new gigs. The technology services sector is expected to generate 1.4 million jobs by 2010, as well as face a shortage of 500,000 professionals.
http://www.forbes.com/business/commerce/2006/11/19/union-bengal-technology-face-cx_rd_1117autofacescan05.html