About a week ago engineering graduates protested across India in front of the office of HCL Technologies. They had been given a letter of intent in 2011 to join the company in a few months. Over a year later, all they have is the letter of intent with no joining date. While it is common practice amongst ITeS firms to provide letters of intent with no fixed joining date, increasingly the date of joining is being stretched into several months, given the global economic scenario. This is the second protest in front of HCL Technology offices.
Until recently the face of collective bargaining were trade unions. Today, social media is creating a new wave of collective bargaining. We saw that during the Delhi rape case when people from all walks of life took to the streets to protest the rape and the government’s seeming inaction. This led to the commissioning of a three member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice J.S. Verma to review the current laws on sexual crime. A month later, the committee submitted its report paving the way for tabling of an amended rape bill in parliament which is awaiting approval.
Were the Jet Airways protests in 2008 the beginning of the new wave of collective bargaining in India? Sometime in 2008, Jet Airways decided to lay off 800 flight attendants amidst soaring costs. Little did they anticipate that the laid off employees would take to the streets and gain political support. Jet Airways reacted immediately and reinstated all the employees that had been laid off.
Welcome to the new wave and new face of collective bargaining.