The All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union (AIITEU), a class-oriented Trade Union representing the IT/ITeS workers of India, mourns the death of Ms. Anna Sebastian Perayil, a promising and talented Chartered Accountant who lost her life due to the prolonged infernal stress that her employer, Ernst and Young India (EY India), put her through. The union deeply condoles the death of Anna and pledges to stand by her family in this moment of excruciating pain.
Anna’s demise has raised several pertinent questions on the condition of workers of the private sector, irrespective of which industry they represent. It is all the more alarming that such an incident would not have seen the daylight if Ms. Anita Augustine, mother of Anna, had not written a letter to the EY India authority which entails a shocking description of the ordeal that the 26 year old Anna had to go through during her 4-month long employment tenure with EY India, a CMMI Level 5 company. AIITEU has been consistently raising its voice against the different modes of exploitation adopted by the various private enterprises including long working hours without overtime payment and inadequate leaves or week-offs. It is the cumulative effect of these malpractices that claims the lives of several workers every year but seldom are such incidents reported.
It is a harsh reality that private enterprises in India enjoy total impunity inspite of the existing legal provisions. The Directive Principles of State Policy (DPSP, Part IV of The Constitution of India) imposes certain duties on the governments. Section 39(e) of the DPSP directs that the government must ensure that the health and strength of workers are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength. Section 43 of the DPSP further directs that the government shall endeavour to secure work, a living wage and healthy conditions of work to all workers, ensuring a decent standard of life as well as adequate time for leisure, social and cultural interactions. Moreover, Section 12 of The Maharashtra Shops and Establishment Act, 2017 mandates no worker shall be required to work in any establishment for more than nine hours in any day and forty-eight hours in any week. Section 15 further mandates that in cases where a worker is required to work beyond nine hours a day or forty-eight hours a week, (s)he shall be entitled to wages at the rate of twice the ordinary rate of wages. The total number of overtime hours, however, shall not exceed one hundred and twenty- five hours in a period of three months.
AIITEU demands an immediate action by Maharashtra State Government
- To appoint Facilitator to inspect, search, seize the overtime register and other related registers of Ernst and Young India (EY India) connected to Ms. Anna Sebastian Perayil
- To inquire about the contravention of provisions of The Maharashtra Shops and Establishment Act, 2017 of other establishments.
- To prescribe a scheme for randomize inspection of establishments.
Due to the extreme indifference, various state governments along with the Union Government have failed to uphold the interest of workers but have proven its faithful allegiance to its industrialist friends even at the cost of workers’ right to life. AIITEU convenes all the workers of IT/ITeS sectors to join the fight for a much needed reform not only in the IT/ITeS industry but the overall private sector.