The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : CITU demands law to regulate working conditions in IT sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Dec 20, 2006
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

CITU demands law to regulate working conditions in IT sector

Special Correspondent

`The sector is not following any of the labour laws'

REMEMBERING A COMRADE: (From left) W.R. Varadarajan, all-India secretary of CITU; B. Madhava, State president of CITU; Chittabrata Majumdar, all-India general secretary of CITU; and Yashoda Suryanarayana Rao, wife of Suryanarayana Rao, at the inaugur ation of Suri Bhavan in Bangalore on Tuesday. — Photo: V. Sreenivasa Murthy

BANGALORE: The Centre for Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has decided to write a letter to the Union Ministry of Labour demanding that a law be enacted to regulate the working conditions and protect the interests of employees in the Information Technology (IT) sector.

Speaking to The Hindu after inaugurating Suri Bhavan, a building dedicated to the late CPI(M) leader Suryanarayana Rao, in Bangalore on Tuesday, CITU all-India general secretary Chittabratha Majumdar expressed concern that the IT sector was not following any of the labour laws which were being followed by other sectors.

There was a dire need to prescribe the duration of working hours and also compensate for the health problems suffered by the employees owing to long hours of exposure to computer and odd hours of work, he said.

As none of the labour laws were being followed by the IT sector, the employees were under the "diktat" of the employers, Mr. Majumdar alleged.

He expressed dissatisfaction that the Labour Ministry had failed to act although he had brought the issue to its notice recently.

Mr. Majumdar said the CITU would hold its national conference for the first time in Bangalore from January 17 to 21.

The CITU's State unit leaders expressed confidence that the conference would go a long way in not only strengthening the CITU organisation in the State, but also the labour movement.

Earlier, addressing the CITU members after inaugurating the Suri Bhavan, Mr. Majumdar said industries in the public and the private sectors were under a new kind of attack in the era of globalisation and liberalisation. CITU all-India secretary W.R. Varadarajan called upon the CITU activists to emulate the principles of the late Suryanarayana Rao.

Trade union leader M.C. Narasimhan recalled his association with Suryanarayana Rao. Suryanarayana Rao's wife Yashoda Suryanarayana Rao burst into tears when the senior CITU leaders hailed the fighting spirit and commitment of her husband to the labour movement.

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