IT professionals' union accuses Karnataka govt of bias towards Infosys, seeks Centre’s intervention

The Union Labour Ministry had, in September, directed the Karnataka Labour Department to look into the alleged ‘exploitation of young IT graduates’ by the Bengaluru-based IT giant Infosys, after a complaint by NITES in June.

Bengaluru: The Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), on Tuesday, accused the Karnataka State Labour Department of biased action on its complaint regarding delay in onboarding of more than 2,000 campus hires by Infosys. The union has also written to the Centre charging the Karnataka government of falsely claiming ‘lack of information’ from NITES on the matter. 

“The PDF document sent to the Karnataka State Labour Ministry clearly outlines the specific cases of numerous graduates who have still not received their joining dates from Infosys, despite being offered employment. Despite providing detailed evidence, they have failed to address the concerns of these graduates in a transparent and effective manner,” read the letter sent to the Union Government.   

The Union Labour Ministry had, in September, directed the Karnataka Labour Department to look into the alleged ‘exploitation of young IT graduates’ by the Bengaluru-based IT giant Infosys, after a complaint from NITES made in June.

Responding to the state labour ministry on the enquiry, the Bengaluru-based IT giant claimed that the allegations, made by the union, are ‘patently false’ and that the graduates have already received the joining dates. 

NITES has also claimed that Karnataka’s labour department has deliberately misrepresented facts and has failed to act impartially in this matter stating that it was done to ‘shield Infosys from accountability’.

“We have urged the central government’s Ministry of Labour and Employment again to intervene and conduct an impartial investigation into the matter to ensure that justice is served and the remaining graduates receive their rightful joining dates,” the letter added.

As it happened, pursuant to Centre asking the state department to look into the matter, Infosys issued around 2,000 offer letters a month back, with the confirmed joining date in October 2024. However, the remaining 500 are yet to receive a confirmation, as reported by DH last month. 

The issue dates back to 2022, when these candidates were promised jobs, but not onboarded, who in turn, sought help from the Pune-based IT union. 

As also reported by DH, apart from the delay, Infosys had also asked several candidates to take unpaid pre-training sessions as well as assessments for four weeks in July and six weeks in August.