Union defends harassed employee
By Suneetha.B

National Unions in the BPO sector? It cannot be far away, if you see what happened at IBM, Australia says Karthik Shekhar, the General Secretary of the UNITES Professionals, a body which is a prelude to what may be a national trade union in the IT/ITES Sector in India. UNITES has been successful in helping a number of employees resolve issues with their management.

The DNA had reported that Karthik Shekhar had been sued by a tech firm for taking up a sexual harassment case on behalf of a woman employee. Techgoss contacted Karthik and he gave us this exclusive interview.

TG(Techgoss): Would you tell us how/why were you sued and how it was resolved?
KS(Karthik Shekhar): We had taken the case of a women employee from K2 Networks which is a gaming firm. The employee who is our member had complained to her boss about her manager asking for sexual and other favors. Instead of making an enquiry they terminated this employee under pretext of under performance, who till the previous month was a star performer and in one month they find her not suitable for the job and terminate her.

When we took up this case, the lawyers of K2 Network sent us a legal notice saying that they are framing a defamation case against us as we are taking up the case with a prejudice.

So this is the update so far regarding the harassment case. It is in the court as of now.

TG: What are your views on such harassment in the industry?
KS: It has to be condemned by one and all. This incident again highlights the problem of security that workers in general and woman in particular, face. We at UNITES Professionals have been campaigning about the need for education of IT & ITES workers about the  countries law known as Vishaka guidelines whereby, "The Supreme Court judgment laid down guidelines, prohibiting sexual harassment, which are legally binding and must be enforced."

1 One of the guidelines makes it incumbent upon the employer to include a prohibition against sexual harassment in their rules of conduct and discipline for employees.

2 Establish a complaint committee, headed preferably by women, and with at least half of its members being women.

3 Initiate disciplinary proceedings and possible criminal action against any violators; and ensure that harassed women are not further victimized.

TG: Are there any specific cases that were brought to resolution by the interference of UNITES?
KS:  Yes we are happy to say that with our involvement in the case of relocation of Advanced Geo spatial from Bangalore to Vijayawada, 212 employees who did not want to move to another location got a good settlement.

We have been able to solve couple of sexual harassment cases as we could speak to management and they implemented Vishaka Guidelines and conducted a hearing.

We have supported workers when they have been in trouble like in the case of IBM

In a case against NIIT some foreign professionals (from Italy) who were hired but not given all their dues as per the agreement and whose passport were confiscated, wanted to pursue a court case.  UNITES stepped in and solved the situation amicably.

We have helped nearly dozen employees get their relieving letters, maternity benefit or dues.

TG: Would you like to say something else to us with reference to this issue?
KS: We are currently running a campaign to ensure IT workers have decent working condition the details of which are on our website.

Techgoss Note:  Website www.unitespro.org has more information about this union.