BPO Union supports 247Customer employee unrest

We received an email early yesterday morning. The recently laid off employees at 247Customer had a serious grievance. One which they voiced in their mail and supported by other facts. The management is accused on cheating the employees of their incentives. We find it very degrading on the Company’s part to hit employees below the belt while they are down with a pink slip. BPO Union decided to write to the management and that it is time to take it head on with this Company. Here is what we wrote to them:

Dear Animeshji,

We have received a grievance mail from employees of your company (who have been affected by the recent layoff) with a request for immediate support. Some of its text is quoted below though a lot of supporting documentation has been sent to us.

VP shows presentation to all employees about closure of company and says as a special scheme along with the salary of july employees will get MAY+June+July incentives as per their ratings in the respective montths i.e Rating A=5300 B=3500 C==2000 min and maximum can be as per duration of the the employee and the scheme as per company for them ..now the management at the end of the july month says that employees will not gget any money in case they have taken any leave in july …now question here is

1. It was shown in the presentation that employees should consume their cl/sl as they will not be encashed.

2. How will employeed look for job in case they cannot take a leave.

Please contact their VP at animesh@247customer.com

pvk@247customer.com CEO. Please keep my name anonymous.

• We hope to get an ‘immediate and appropriate‘ response to this e-mail. Any delay may be detrimental to the interest of employees.
• Your side of the episode is important before any action is initiated that we may regret later.
• Confrontation is avoidable and resolution is possible but your actions alone can make that possible.
• We also believe that you are a reasonable person and shall restore your own honor as well as the benefit of employees that was promised to them.
• If you fail our request we shall be highly disappointed. Please consider this mail as a humble request but one which is non-negotiable. BPO Union will be forced to initiate a protest campaign in support of the affected employees to ensure that promised benefits are restored. The people who made false promises and went back on them will also be campaigned against till they are fired.

We are ready to walk the talk … what direction it takes is totally unto you, Sir. Let us pray that better sense prevails all over.

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

Note: Copy of this email is sent to reporters/ editors of leading media companies globally.

Your comments and support are welcome and invited …

Regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

Work Hard Party Harder

Dear Friends,

We’ve received innumerable emails suggesting that we include lighter moments from our daily work.

This is an invitation to send us interesting stories, pictures from parties, events in BPOs/ Call Centers/ KPOs/ LPOs and all even from IT Companies. It’d be nice to see you enjoy and sharing some of it with the rest of us. So start sending and keep it coming. Cheers.

Meanwhile please keep supporting the petition for laid-off friends at Keane:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/BPOUnion

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

BPO Industry Association concedes to BPO Union

BPO Association concedes to BPO Union – accepts the need for a Union in the BPO Industry for the first time

BPO Union made an impact today with the BPIAI conceding – for the first time ever – the need for a BPO Union. Ref a statement made in Hindu Business Line. Thats base one. Until now the associations were vehemently opposing unions in the BPO Industry. They seem to be changing stance now, knowing that times are changing. Good for them, the sooner they realise that we are here to assert our rights the better.

We are not in a tug-of-war; we do not see this as a win; yet we thought it necessary to bring to light the fact that our combined force has shown result. More will naturally follow. Ahoy to the power of the internet.

Meanwhile please keep supporting the petition for laid-off friends at Keane:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/BPOUnion

regards,
Chief
(BPO Union 2.0)

Employees Slave while BPOs mint money

Are BPOs scamming & stealing employees’ money?

Last week we received a mail which shook us in the roots. The details could easily qualify for a well researched, in fact detected, piece of information. It may be the biggest SCAM by BPOs so far. Consider this. BPOs are keeping their employees ‘temporary’ so as to slip through nimbly between the lines of Labor Law compliance. More permanent employees means more PF (and other statutory) compliance to keep, which are additional ‘costs’. Plus fewer ‘paid leaves’ to such employees. That’s savings of a few crores each for every BPO. If that is not a SCAM, then what is – Lets question these policies.

Not to mention the repressive practice of treating us like ‘use-and-throw’ utilities. It is easier to fire a ‘temporary’ employee than a permanent one. We are soon filing at least 300 RTI applications with the Labor Department – their commissioners are sleeping (they must be fired for dereliction of duty, and we have yet to find out if they are colluding with BPOs) while BPOs blatantly twist and turn laws to their convenient interpretations. Once we exert enough pressure on the Labor Commissioners we will try to get a formal list from them as their finding on what these companies are doing. We will then publish it right here for all to see. Let these BPOs know we are coming after them unless they restore to better means of doing business.

Meanwhile please keep supporting the petition for laid-off friends at Keane:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/BPOUnion

Chief

Online Petiton – Compensate Sacked Keane Employees or Re-instate them!

This is an online petition that has been set-up in support of our 400 friends laid off by Keane, at the link below. 24×7Customer is laying off at least 300 employees (it may escalate to 500). Lets get our act together and stand by the rest of us. The way it is going it may be YOU tomorrow. How would you feel then. Act Now. Click the link and show support in less than 30 second:

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/BPOUnion

Please support this online signature campaign to support the 400 sacked Keane employees, some of whom have shown total inability in getting their just dues from Keane. The sacking itself seems questionable in many terms.

Let us also get ready for peaceful candle marches across all major BPO hubs in India SOON – please mobilize as many people as you all can – let it be an unparallel show of unity and solidarity. A road show in the US and UK will address the investor & client communities sometime in September 2008.

Any mass lay-off(s) from now on will HAVE to be supported by a minimum severence package – 3 month’s pay, counselling and assistane in finding a new job.

Chief