LONGER WORK HOURS: Another Karnataka govt’s act first think later move!!!

IT industry as well as labour unions  are taking on the Karnataka government for what they called “anti-worker” policy of the state government that allowed a 14-hour work a day regime, that appears to be much more taxing than the long work hours recommended by Infosys founder NR Narayanmurthy. It may be recalled that the Infosys founder was trolled heavily by IT unions and human rights organisations alike.

The Karnataka state government has now come out with a 14-hour a day work proposal, sparking a huge row with the IT labour unions, and also the IT body NASSCOM, opposing what they called “inhuman” and “an attack on their basic rights of the worker.”  Shortly after the government’s labour law change, stipulating reservation of jobs for natives a mega pushback from the industry, the government is facing yet another pushback, this time from labour as well as the IT management over the long work hours recommended by the government.

The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees’ Union (KITU) said that this move will also lead to massive unemployment and an increase in work hours of workers will deduct the number of shifts in organisations.

“The new proposal is nothing but an attack on the fundamental rights of a worker, and it will take away his/her personal time. The Karnataka government, in its hunger to please its corporate bosses, completely neglects the most fundamental right of any individual, the right to live,” the trade union body of IT workers said. The union members also called on state labour minister Santosh Lad, who said that the government was only responding to the corporate heads to extend working hours. The labour minister promised to the workers union that another round of discussions will be held on this matter with all the stakeholders.

“It is not the Karnataka government’s proposal to increase the number of working hours. The heads of corporate companies and top IT companies approached us to make this amendment to existing labour laws. Since it has sparked a debate everywhere, the corporate heads and employees must internally discuss this, and the government will go according to the people’s interests,”  Santosh Lad told media persons.

Meanwhile, KITU has called on all employee unions to protest this new rule, which is nothing but inhuman. “KITU calls upon all the IT/ITeS sector employees to unify and come forward to resist this inhuman attempt to impose slavery on us. The amendment (if done) is an attack on 20 lakh employees working in Karnataka’s IT industry,” the union said.

“It (the move) will facilitate the IT/ITES companies to extend the daily hours of work indefinitely. This amendment will allow the companies to go for a two-shift system instead of the currently existing three-shift system and one-third of the workforce will be thrown out from their employment,” said Suhas Adiga, general secretary of KITU.

The proposed ‘Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2024’ will mandate a 14-hour work day, replacing an existing act that only allows a maximum of 10 hours of work per day, including overtime.

In an interesting reaction to the increase in the working hours of IT employees to 14 hours a day, the NASCCOM said it did not support the move.

“As Nasscom, we have not requested a 14-hour workday limit or a 70-hour workweek. We have not seen a copy of the Bill in Karnataka, so cannot comment on it. We fully support the 48-hour work week, which is the standard across the country,” said Ashish Aggarwal, vice-president & head of Public Policy, Nasscom.

He further said in a statement, “All we have asked of the states and the central government is to consider some flexibility within this 48-hour limit. This would help companies with a pan-India presence to standardise their operations. In Karnataka, we had a similar discussion with the IT department a few months ago. We did not, however, have a meeting with the labor department on this topic.”

The Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry also said that nearly half the employees in the IT sector were already facing mental health issues such as depression and physical health impacts. Increasing work hours will further aggravate the situation, the KCCI said, quoting a WHO-ILO study that says extension of work hours will lead to an estimated 35 percent higher risk of death by stroke and 17 percent higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease.