Nasscom says no to Karnataka govt's 14-hour workday limit proposal

According to labour unions, the amendment, which is looking to facilitate a 14-hour working day, was presented in a meeting called by the labour department with various stakeholders in the industry

A day after IT sector unions in Karnataka opposed the state government’s proposal to increase the working hours of IT employees to 14 hours a day, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) said it does not support the move.

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

The proposed new bill ‘Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2024’ attempts to normalise a 14-hour work day. The existing act only allows a maximum of 10 hours work per day, including overtime, which has been completely lifted in the current amendment.

 

“As Nasscom, we have not requested a 14-hour workday limit or a 70-hour work week. We have not seen the 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.

Aggarwal further added, “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.”

IT sector unions have come out in public in protest against the move, calling it 'inhuman' and having implications on 2 million workers in the state.

The representatives of the Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) have already met with labour minister Santosh Lad and raised their concerns over the move.

“It 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. During the meeting, KITU pointed out the studies on the health impact of extended working hours among the IT employees,” said Suhas Adiga, general secretary of KITU.

As per a report of KCCI, 45 per cent of employees in the IT sector are facing mental health issues such as depression and 55 per cent are facing physical health impacts. Increasing working hours will further aggravate this situation. A 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, the union said.

This comes days after the controversial draft Bill proposing job quota for locals in Karnataka was put on hold following high-pitched industry protests.