For the second time this week, the Karnataka government has been slammed for its plans for the state’s industries.
This time, it is the state’s information technology (IT) sector union that’s slamming the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) has said that the state government is working on a bill to increase IT sector employees’ working hours to 14 hours a day from the current maximum of 10 hours, according to NDTV.
The KITU has said that the Karnataka government is working on an amendment to the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act to make ways for 14-hour workdays and 70-hour work week. The union said that the labour department had called a meeting of various stakeholders to present the plan.
“The proposed new bill ‘Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2024’ attempts to normalize a 14-hour work day. The existing act only allows a maximum of 10 hours of work per day including overtime, which has been completely lifted in the current amendment. It will facilitate the IT/ITES companies to extend the daily hours of work indefinitely,” said KITU in a statement, as per NDTV.
Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru is a major IT hub that’s not just critical to the world’s IT and financial services sector but is also a hub of start-ups in India. Besides IT, industries like aeronautics and aerospace have also found a hub in Bengaluru in recent years.
‘One-third of jobs could be lost’
The KITU said that the proposed 14-hour workdays would meant that companies could replace the current three-shift system with two-shift system. If that happens, then one-third of IT jobs could be lost, according to KITU.
This would be the “biggest ever attack on the working class in this era”, said KITU, as per NDTV.
The union was further quoted as saying that in the meeting, which was attended by Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh S Lad and the officials from the departments of labour and IT and Biotechnology, the KITU pointed out the potential health implications of long working hours.
“As per the report of KCCI, 45 per cent of employees in the IT sector are facing mental health issues such as depression and 55 per cent facing physical health impacts. Increasing working hours will further aggravate this situation. WHO-ILO study says increased working hours will lead to an estimated 35 per cent higher risk of death by stroke and 17 per cent higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease,” said the union.
The KITU further said, “This amendment comes in a period when the world starts to accept the fact that increased working hours are negatively impacting productivity and more countries are coming with new legislations to accept the right to disconnect as a basic right of any employee.”
There has been no reaction from the Karnataka government so far on the reported proposal and its criticism.
2nd contentious proposal in a week
This is the second time in recent days that the Karnataka government has attracted criticism for its plans for the state’s industries.
Earlier this week, the Karnataka cabinet approved a bill that would reserve 50-75 per cent private sector jobs for Kannadigas. The Kannadigas are those locals from Karnataka who are fluent in Kannada language. The plan sought to reserve 50 per cent of management jobs and 75 per cent of non-management jobs for locals.
After all-round criticism for the plan, the government shelved it for now.
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