IT/ITeS employees Union NITES accuses Amazon of violating India’s labour laws and writes to Labour Ministry
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Compliance with labour and employment laws have become one of the most important issues that many establishments in India have to deal with. Many of the employment disputes result in litigation. Karma Global is an Indian HR, Payroll and Compliance firm advising clients worldwide on local, regional and global regulatory compliances in relation to their business goals, business strategies and resolving disputes.
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Let us take an overview of the Union “NITES” and what all it does, before going into the main issue of the Union writing a letter to the Labour Ministry
Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate – NITES is working for welfare and benefits of IT/ITES and its related sector employees.
The Union’s immediate attention and actions are focused on various issues faced by IT /ITeS / BPO/ KPO Employees.
This year, due to the alarming rate of layoffs and forced resignations, Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate – NITES accelerated its efforts and picked up the fight for worker rights in the industry with fresh rigor. So far Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate – NITES have raised issues of more than 89000 employees and have filed petitions in Labour Departments and District Magistrate against illegal terminations, Reduction in wages, forceful resignation, deduction of earned leaves, forcing employees to apply leaves as vacation, Maternity Benefits & various other issues.
Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate – NITES also spreads awareness amongst employees regarding labour laws and encourage them to unite and now more than 21000 employees have joined them on various platforms.
Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate – NITES through various channels have apprised IT employees that the Union is eligible for all rights that workers in all industries deserve. The Union have been requesting IT employees to join them to bring a change in the IT Sector for better working environment.
IT/ITeS employees Union NITES accuses Amazon of violating labour laws – NITES, Employees Union writes to Labour Ministry
- Employee Union – Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has written a letter to the Union Labour Ministry, seeking government’s intervention in the layoffs being conducted by US-based e-commerce giant Amazon in India.
- In the letter addressed to Labour Minister, the union for IT/ITeS employees accused Amazon of violating India’s labour laws.
- In a letter to Union Labour Minister, NITES claimed that Amazon staffers were removed forcefully from the company.
- NITES said that it has received complaints from Amazon employees that they are being forced to quit the company voluntarily.
- The big tech firm also sent a detailed Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) to its employees. The livelihood of hundreds of employees and their families is now vulnerable, NITES noted.
- The union maintained that a Voluntary Separation Programme has been sent to employees giving a deadline of November 30 to complete the process.
- As per earlier reports, the impacted Amazon employees were given a grace period until November 29 to decide whether they want to resign voluntarily. NITES mentioned that the date is November 30
- Essentially, a lay-off is a condition where the employers are constrained to deny work to their workforce owing to conditions that bring forth a temporary inability to keep their business going which is clearly not a scenario in Amazon’s case,” said NITES.
- Amazon recently started downsizing its headcount globally, and will cut 10,000 jobs in corporate and technology verticals. India accounts for 7% of its global workforce
IT/ITeS employees Union NITES accuses Amazon of violating labour laws – Summons from the Labour Ministry to Amazon gets the nod
The Union Labour Ministry has summoned Amazon India to appear before the Deputy Chief Labour Commissioner in Bengaluru on Wednesday in connection with the alleged forced terminations by the company.
“You (Amazon) are therefore requested to attend this office with all relevant records in the matter either personally or through an authorised representative on the aforesaid date and time without fail,” the Ministry’s notice issued on Tuesday read.
The development comes after a complaint was filed by the employee union Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) in which it has alleged Amazon of violating labour laws.
IT/ITeS employees Union NITES accuses Amazon of violating labour laws – Claims of the Union on the Industrial Disputes Act
Underscoring the Industries Disputes Act, it argued that without permission from the government, an employer cannot be laid off.
“As per procedures laid down under Industrial Dispute Act the employer cannot, without prior permission from the appropriate government, lay-off an employee featuring on the muster rolls of the establishment,” the petition said, adding that a worker who has served for at least a year of continuous service cannot be retrenched unless served a notice three months in advance and prior permission from the appropriate government.
The application has to be submitted by the employer, along with the reason for the retrenchment, and this is then to be scrutinized by the authority, NITES said. However, Amazon “clearly violated the existing provisions of Indian labour laws”, the union alleged while seeking “prompt intervention” and “immediate inquiry” by the government.
NITES President Harpreet Saluja told the media that the union looked forward to justice for the employees.
He also added that the unethical Voluntary Separation Policy mooted by Amazon would be scrapped off by the government and the action by the authorities has provided a sigh of relief for the employees.
IT/ITeS employees Union NITES accuses Amazon of violating labour laws – Amazon’s Reaction ………………!
According to sources, Amazon is all set to lay off up to 10,000 people as of now and the terminations continue till 2023.
Amazon reported a lower-than-expected Q3 revenue of $127.1 Bn, which rose 15% year-on-year (YoY). Besides, the company is far from achieving profitability in India.
Reports stated that up to 10,000 jobs are likely to be eliminated in this round of layoffs at Amazon. According to Reuters, this would be a 3 percent reduction of Amazon’s workforce.
An email sent by Amazon Chief Executive Officer Andy Jassy to employees said that layoffs will continue up to 2023, according to a Reuters report.
“Yesterday, we communicated the difficult decision to eliminate a number of positions across our Devices and Books businesses, and also announced a voluntary reduction offer for some employees in our People, Experience, and Technology (PXT) organization,” his note read.
It added that Amazon hasn’t concluded exactly how many other roles will be impacted, but employees will be informed first.
A source in the know said that among Amazon’s multiple entities in India, there is likely to be a lot of reorganisation as well. Employees in India will receive more clarity on the layoffs in the coming week.
Amazon’s layoffs came after other Big Tech companies such as Twitter and Meta also announced significant headcount reductions. While Twitter laid off 50 percent of its workforce after Elon Musk acquired the company with more terminations since, Meta laid off 13 percent — or 11,000 people — from its workforce.
IT/ITeS employees Union NITES accuses Amazon of violating labour laws – Amazon’s response to the Summons …………!
- Amazon India has responded to the summon sent by the Union Labour Ministry.
- In connection to the alleged violation of labour laws due mass layoffs, Amazon has responded and maintained that it did not sack any employee. It added that Amazon layoffs were actually voluntary resignations by employees as they opted for its separation programme on their own after accepting the severance package.
- Since Amazon India was expected to appear before the deputy chief labour commissioner in Bengaluru, representatives from the company did the same. While doing that, Amazon India submitted its version and followed the narrative that ‘resignations were voluntary.’ Denying all the allegations, the company has maintained its stand as mentioned.
- According to a report in the Economic Times, the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES) has pressed for an enquiry after mentioning that Amazon had set a deadline of November 30 to complete the process of the infamous Amazon layoffs. The step, since it affected the lives of many people, must be under the scanner, as per NITES.
- The report adds that Amazon India has maintained that it tends to review the worker strength across verticals every year. The company indulges in this to see if it needs to realign anything in order to accommodate the changing environment.
- For the unversed, the Labour Ministry sought Amazon’s response after NITES petitioned claiming that the online retailer ended up forcibly terminating employees across India.
IT/ITeS employees Union NITES accuses Amazon of violating labour laws – Conclusion
On Friday, Inc. 42 (India’s largest tech media & information platform on a mission to build & serve India’s tech, start-up & internet economy) reported that days before the announcement of global layoffs, top Amazon executives told its India team that the country is a “high priority” market for the Retailer and more investment will trickle in.
While the number of employees which will be affected by the layoffs in India is not clear, the number is expected to be lower than in Amazon’s offices outside India. Employees from the software development engineering division are likely to face the axe in the country.
It is pertinent to note that amidst a global economic slowdown and fears of a looming recession, tech companies are carrying out restructuring exercises. Thousands of employees across tech giants like Amazon, Meta, and Twitter have been laid off in recent days.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp parent Meta recently fired 13% of the global workforce, impacting over 11,000 employees. Meanwhile, after Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the microblogging site laid off over 90% of its India staff while halving the total global headcount.
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