The All India IT and ITeS Employees’ Union (AIITEU) strongly condemns the proposed change in Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act aiming to increase the working hours of IT employees to over 12 hours a day as reported by different media outlets.
The existing Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act largely defines that “no employee in any establishment shall be required or allowed to work for more than nine hours on any day and forty-eight hours in any week”. Even in the case of overtime, “the total number of hours of work including overtime shall not exceed ten hours” and “does not exceed fifty [overtime hours] in a period of three continuous months”.
AIITEU strongly opposes any move by the state government to increase the daily working hours in favour of the capitalist owners. Increased use of automation in the IT industry is supposed to reduce work hours, thereby providing sufficient time to the workers to indulge in creative activities and leisure. This in turn, is expected to increase their productivity. However, the proposal to increase the working hours will not only be counter-productive but also rob the workers of their basic right to live.
IT companies have been consistently violating the labour laws by not paying the due wages for overtime work. AIITEU strongly opposes the consistent onslaught on workers’ rights by the capitalist classes who are facing a systematic crisis wherein the only way to safeguard profits and wealth is through intensifying the exploitation of their workers.
AIITEU also demands a formulation of regulation by the state government to conduct periodic inspections of IT companies in order to verify compliance with the existing Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act as well as other related acts.
We urge all the tech workers to unitedly raise their voice against the anti-worker proposals being considered by Karnataka State Government. AIITEU also demands upon the Karnataka Govt. to:
- Refrain from any such amendment which is totally against the workers’ basic rights.
- Reduce the daily working hours to 7 hours and the workweek to 35 hours to ensure higher employment with a defined right to logout of work.
- Ensure a minimum wage of Rs. 26000 for the workers in IT and ITeS sector.