Karnataka Plans 14-Hour Work Day In IT Sector? What Employees Union Said

Amid a huge uproar over a bill that directed private firms in Karnataka to reserve jobs for Kannadigas, the state government is now planning to raise the IT staff's working hours to 14 per day, the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) said on Saturday.

According to the KITU, the proposal to amend the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishment Act to facilitate a 14-hour working day was presented in a meeting called by the labour department with various stakeholders in the industry.

The Chief Minister Siddaramaih-led government has so far not said anything on the issue.

"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," the Union said in a statement.

This amendment, the KITU said was the "biggest ever attack on the working class in this era", and 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.

During the meeting, which was also attended by Karnataka Labour Minister Santosh S Lad and the officials from the departments of Labour and Information Technology and Biotechnology, the KITU said it pointed out the studies on the health impact of extended working hours among the IT employees.

"As per the report of KCCI, 45% of employees in the IT sector are facing mental health issues such as depression, and 55% 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% higher risk of death by stroke and 17% higher risk of dying from ischemic heart disease," it 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," the Union said.

The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union urged the Chief Minister Siddaramaih-led government to "rethink" the proposal and warned that any attempt to go with the amendment will be an "open challenge" to the 20 lakh employees working in the IT/ITeS sector in Karnataka.

The Union also called upon all the IT sector employees to unify and come forward to resist this "inhuman attempt to impose slavery on us".

Earlier last year, Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy sparked a huge debate when he suggested that India's work culture needs to change and that youngsters should be prepared to work for 70 hours a week. His company, which has a headquarters in the Karnataka capital Bengaluru, has a market valuation of Rs 7,44,396.43 crore.

Karnataka's Bill For Reservation In Private Sector Firms

The Karnataka government earlier this week stoked a controversy when it cleared a bill that required private sector firms in the state to prioritise local hires for 70 per cent of non-management roles and 50 per cent of management-level jobs.

Drafted by the state's Labour Department, the proposed bill claimed the jobs in question were being given largely to people from the northern states who were then settling in Karnataka.

It proposed that Karnataka-based companies benefitting from state-provided infrastructure reserve jobs for locals.

The bill, however, was paused after outrage followed the announcement.