The Maharashtra government’s proposal to increase daily working hours for private-sector organisations (from nine to 10 hours) and factories (from nine to 12 hours) has not been welcomed. Trade unions have been protesting against revising daily work hours, while health experts are worried about the impact it will have on the mental and physical health of employees/workers.
Last month, it was reported that the Maharashtra government was reviewing draft amendments to the Shops and Establishments Act, 2017, that could increase the daily working limit for private-sector employees from nine to ten hours. The proposal was presented to the state cabinet in Mumbai with the aim of bringing greater flexibility to workplaces while aligning state labour laws with global practices.
As part of the draft, the coverage threshold for establishments under the Act was also to be revised, raising the minimum number of workers from 10 to 20. The proposal included around five major amendments, among them an increase in permissible overtime from 125 to 144 hours in a three-month period and revisions to rules governing continuous working hours with mandatory breaks. A revision of the Factories Act, 1948 was also suggested.
It is pertinent to mention here that the governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Tripura have already put in place revised/increased working hours on similar lines.
Experts have reportedly pointed out that many employers are imposing a 12 to 14-hour work schedule on their employees, which is not only illegal but causing immense harm to their well-being and having an adverse effect on employees’ family life. A significant number of suicides have also been attributed to family discord arising out of lack of work-life balance.
Calling increased working hours a way to lawfully exploit workers, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha has reportedly demanded that the proposal be trashed or else they would protest. The Sabha has pointed out that the decision was not discussed with the unions and was taken merely with a focus on profits.
