BENGALURU: The Karnataka government’s proposal to increase work hours for private firms from the existing nine hours to 10 hours a day is facing stiff opposition from employees of private firms, including the IT/ITeS employees’ association. They have threatened to stage protests and approach the courts.
State labour department officials led by Labour Secretary Rohini Sindhuri interacted with various labour organisations as there is a proposal to bring an amendment to the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act, 1961, to fix work time as 10 hours. The government also proposes to increase overtime (OT) from maximum 10 hours to 12 hours a day.
The employees also fear that the proposed amendment will allow companies to opt for a two-shift system, instead of the existing three-shift system. “This means, one third of the workforce will be thrown out of employment,’’ a release from the association stated.
Suhas Adiga, general secretary of the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) noted that as per the State of Emotional Wellbeing Report 2024, 90 per cent of corporate employees in India under the age of 25 are struggling with anxiety. Due to work pressure, there have been suicides and deaths in the corporate sector, he pointed out.
According to the release from the IT/ITeS association, the proposed amendment shows that the Karnataka government is unwilling to recognise workers as human beings who require personal and social lives to survive. “Instead, it views them merely as machines to increase the profits of the corporates it serves,’’ it stated.
KITU urged the government to reconsider this move and warned that any attempt to proceed with the amendment will be seen as a direct challenge to the 20 lakh employees working in the IT/ITeS sector in Karnataka. KITU has called upon all IT/ITeS employees to unite and stand together to resist this “inhuman attempt to impose modern-day slavery upon us’’, it added.