How do the “cyber coolies” feel about BPO unions? This newspaper carried a story on Thursday quoting Calcutta BPO employees who were absolutely unimpressed with the idea of trade unions. Much more evidence exists. In a wonderfully informative article in the EPW (October 14-20, 2006), Amandeep Sandhu records BPO employees’ reactions to unions. Sandhu doesn’t seem against the idea of unionisation per se. But his facts are uncluttered by his value judgment. He recounts that while researching his dissertation he had lived with five BPO employees in a Bangalore paying guest accommodation. His lodgers, from Bengal and Kerala, were “dead set against unions”. They had complaints about work but they were appalled at the idea of being union members.

A multinational labour organisation — the Union Network International (UNI) — had sponsored a November 2000 effort to unionise BPO employees in India. The Information Technology Professionals Forum (ITPF) was the result. CITU leaders will be disappointed to know that ITPF, which started in Bangalore and has spread to seven other cities, is registered as a society, not a union. Members didn’t want the union tag. The ITPF chairman is quoted by Sandhu as saying his organisation is “against any unionisation... ITPF is like Chartered Accountants’ Association, All India Management Association...”

Another UNI initiative resulted in CBPOP, the Centre for Business Processing Outsourcing Professionals. Started in June 2004 in Bangalore and Hyderabad, CBPOP, as Sandhu reports, had an average attendance of 22 for its Bangalore chapter meetings. Sandhu writes about a CBPOP meeting he attended that attracted six members, one of whom, he says, was rather more interested in “spreading the message about the Art of Living movement”.

... contd.