The Romanian IT Union (; SITT) is Romania's first
trade union
A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...
for people working in the
IT and
outsourcing
Outsourcing is a business practice in which companies use external providers to carry out business processes that would otherwise be handled internally. Outsourcing sometimes involves transferring employees and assets from one firm to another ...
sector. It represents 3,000 workers at four different firms; Nokia, Wipro, Accenture and Atos.
History
SITT was formed in 2009, when a French
European Works Council
European Works Councils (EWC) are information and consultation bodies representing employees in European multinational companies.
Purpose
The rationale behind the establishment of European Works Councils is related to the economic and political ...
member at
Alcatel-Lucent
Alcatel-Lucent S.A. () was a multinational telecommunications equipment company, headquartered in Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. The company focused on Fixed line telephone, fixed, Mobile phone, mobile and telecommunications convergence, ...
(Nokia) notified Romanian workers of the company's plans to outsource one third of all jobs to the Romanian branch of
Wipro
Wipro Limited () is an Indian multinational technology company based in Bengaluru. It provides information technology, consulting and business process services. It is one of India's Big Six IT services companies. Wipro's services include cloud ...
. SITT organized strike actions, hired a legal team (rare in Romania) and signed a
collective agreement
A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with a ...
with Alcatel-Lucent on 22 December 2009, a few days before the outsourcing was finalised. SITT continues to represent workers at both Alcatel-Lucent and Wipro, taking a geographic approach instead of a typical firm-enterprise approach to labour organising.
In 2011, Romania changed its labour code, raising the threshold for companies to recognise unions to 50% of workers. In 2012, SITT won representation of workers at
Accenture
Accenture plc is a global multinational professional services company originating in the United States and headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, that specializes in information technology (IT) services and management consulting. It was founded in 1 ...
.
In 2017, workers of
Atos
Atos SE is a European multinational information technology (IT) service and consulting company with headquarters in Bezons suburb of Paris, France, and offices worldwide. It specialises in hi-tech transactional services, unified communicat ...
won legal recognition by SITT.
Affiliation
SITT is affiliated with the Romanian national trade center
Cartel Alfa and the global union federation
UNI Global Union
UNI Global Union, formally Union Network International (UNI), is a global union federation for the skills and services sectors, uniting national and regional trade unions. It has affiliated unions in 150 countries representing 20 million workers ...
.
See also
*
Tech union
References
External
*
Trade unions in Romania
Tech sector trade unions
2009 establishments in Romania
Trade unions established in 2009
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