TCS faces global protests over 12,000 layoffs amid union outcry
MUMBAI, INDIA — Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), one of India’s IT services companies, is facing significant backlash from employees and unions following its announcement to lay off approximately 12,000 employees.
According to a report by The Times of India, Union of IT and ITES Employees (UNITE), affiliated with the Center of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), has been holding protests outside the offices of companies with allegations that these retrenchments unfairly cut the middle-level and senior professionals to an alarming level, and these constitute an assault on job security in the sector.
UNITE union protests target TCS workforce reduction strategy
The planned reduction of 2% of its global workforce has ignited protests, which claim TCS is terminating employees not out of operational necessity but for profit optimization.
“TCS is retrenching workers not out of necessity, but for profit. Targeting senior employees & pushing illegal layoffs is an attack on job security across IT. Workers are not numbers on a balance sheet — we demand justice,” UNITE wrote on X.
The Union has claimed that staff whose work histories have been exemplary and whose credentials allow them to be described as leaders in their respective fields are being unjustly targeted, which is perceived as an attack on job security, turning employees into mere figures on a balance sheet.
This has prompted protests in places like Chennai, with the Union issuing demands that the ruling be overturned and that the government intervene to make the layoff process illegal, thereby rendering it legally impossible.
“Union of IT and ITES Employees protested today in Chennai against the announced TCS layoff of 12000 employees and the government inaction,” stated another X post by the Union.
TCS countered that such layoffs were part of its efforts to transform into a future-ready organization by releasing associates whose utilization was no longer viable, mainly in middle and senior grades.
The company has undertaken to ensure that employees who lose their jobs are provided with the right benefits, including outplacement, counseling, and support, which includes notice period compensation and severance packages.
This, however, has not succeeded in cooling down the unrest, with UNITE yet to take its campaign around the globe in case the authorities fail to move swiftly.
Indian IT sector adopts performance-based employment policies
The layoffs are not a unique case but part of an increasing industry-wide trend to greater bench management and raising operational efficiency.
One such recent implementation is the new benching policy, which limits non-billable days to 35 per annum. This move has already given rise to employee insecurity regarding job security and forced placements in inappropriate roles, contributing to the current unrest.
Analysts believe this shift toward competency-based workforce planning, away from tenure-based retention, could become the norm as businesses look to reskill around areas of high demand, such as AI and cybersecurity.
The policies of TCS have far-reaching consequences, given that the company employs over 613,000 workers, and 15% to 18% of them are usually on the bench.
Such relocation of an industry as the one described by TCS would transform employment and career development in information technology for all those IT employees worldwide.
TCS recently ranked #8 in the OA500 2025, an objective index of the world’s top 500 outsourcing companies.
