CITU DENOUNCE THE GOVT-MOVE TO INCREASE DAILY WORKING HOURS TO 12 HRS

CITU  DENOUNCE THE GOVT-MOVE TO AMEND FACTORIES ACT 1948 TO INCREASE DAILY WORKING HOURS TO 12 HRS.  CORONA SITUATION MUST NOT BE USED TO BENEFIT THE CORPORATES/BUSINESS AT THE COST OF WORKERS

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) expresses serious concern as well as contempt at the move of the Govt at the centre to increase the daily working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours as reported by media. 

This is being considered as a measure to help production/services during the lockdown and post lockdown situation by the Govt under “exceptional circumstances” for which amendment of section 51 of the Factories Act is being contemplated. 

CITU opines that need for extra hours of working, if any, in exceptional lockdown/post-lockdown situation can very well be met under existing provisions of Factories Act through overtime-work for which no change of law is at all required. The main motive of the Govt is to help their masters in corporate/employers’ class by relieving their obligation of paying overtime wages and get the extra-working hours by workers free of cost. Corona situation is being utilized as a bonanza to the corporate/employers’ class and a straight cut in wages/earnings of the workers.

Changing the internationally accepted norm of eight hour working is already in the project of this Modi Govt; in the Code on Industrial Relations Bill 2020 already introduced in Parliament, the issue of daily working hours has been kept open to de decided by the appropriate govts, obviously, through executive order. The Bill is yet to be passed. And in the present circumstances, the possibility of expanding the normal daily working hours from 8 hours to 12 hours through executive order or even by an Ordinance cannot be ruled out. This is nothing but the philistine game plan of the Govt at the centre of relieving the corporate/employers from the obligation of paying overtime and extracting extra hours of work from the workers without any extra cost. Reading the concerned provision of Code on Industrial Relations Bill  together with the present move of the Govt exposes this fraud and sinister game-plan.

None of the Central Trade Unions has yet been consulted on this sinister move of the Govt through the empowered group of bureaucrats, thus trampling underfoot the basic principles of tripartism and all talks and sermons of the Prime Minister and others to unitedly combat the challenging Corona pandemic situation has been proved to be a bluff.    

CITU condemns such a fraudulent move of the Govt and demands upon the Govt not to proceed on such disastrous path. CITU calls upon the working people irrespective of affiliations to unite and resist such retrograde exercise through united struggle both at national level and at workplace level too. 

Issued by
Tapan Sen
General Secretary

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