Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee correspondent
On 3 September, the Maharashtra state cabinet approved significant amendments to the Factories Act, 1948, and the Maharashtra Shops and Establishments Act, 2017 which will increase the daily working hours to 12 hours.
The proposal has been strongly opposed by workers’ organizations and they have demanded its withdrawal.
Under the amendments to the Factories Act, the limit of daily working hours in industries will increase from 9 to 12 hours (Section 65), while rest breaks will be allowed after 6 hours instead of 5 (Section 55). Work hours inclusive of intervals for rest will also be extended from 10.5 hours to 12 hours (Section 56). The legal overtime limit will rise from 115 to 144 hours per quarter, with mandatory written consent from workers.
The periods of work of an adult worker in a factory shall be so arranged that under section 55, they shall not spread over more than ten and a half hours in any day.
Under the amended Shops and Establishments Act, daily working hours will be raised from 9 to 10, overtime limits from 125 to 144 hours, and emergency duty hours will be extended to 12. The changes will apply to the establishments having 20 or more workers.
Shops and Establishments with fewer than 20 employees will now be exempt from the amended Shops and Establishments Act. There are about 85 lakh shops and establishments governed by this law presently and the amendment will reduce the number to just around 56,000. This amendment has been welcomed by the Federation of Retail Traders Association.
According to the government, the aim of the move is to boost ease of doing business and attract investments. It claims that this will generate employment, and safeguard workers’ rights.
The government also claims that the amendments will allow industries to function without disruption during peak demand or labour shortages while ensuring that workers receive proper overtime compensation.
According to the state labour department, the changes will create a “more flexible” work environment, address long-standing concerns of both employees and employers, and improve conditions for women in the workforce.
The real aim of the amendments is to fulfil the longstanding demand of Indian and foreign capitalists that the government should extend the length of the working day from 8 hours to 12 hours. Capitalists in various sectors of industry have been demanding that the labour laws be amended so that they can maximise their profits through even more intense exploitation of workers.
The state government is turning the truth upside down when it claims that the amendments will safeguard workers’ rights. The extension of working hours is a massive attack on right of workers. Workers had won the 8-hour work right after decades of hard-fought struggles of workers in many parts of the world, which is now being snatched away through these amendments.
The government’s claim that additional hours will be treated as overtime and will be paid at twice the basic wage and allowance rate is of no value. Similarly, the provision of written consent of workers for overtime is of no value. The relation between a capitalist and the workers working in his factory or shop is such that the worker is at the mercy of the capitalist, fearful of losing his or her job. The worker will have little choice but to sign the letter of consent, if he or she wants to retain the job. Capitalists have already been openly flouting 8-hour work rule, extending the working day, forcing workers to work overtime, by threatening to throw them out of their jobs. The amendment will provide legal cover to this practice, and allow the capitalists to intensify the exploitation of workers.
The amendment will lead to loss of large number of jobs as capitalists will now be able to resort to 2-shift working instead of current 3-shift working, making one third of workers surplus.
The amendments will worsen the conditions of work for women. Women in our country still carry bulk of the responsibility of household chores and care of children and have to devote considerable time for them after their working day. If the time women have to spend at the workplace and the time taken to go from home to the workplace and back is counted, then one can imagine the terrible plight of women workers.
The amendment to take shops and establishments employing less than 20 workers out of the purview of the Shops and Establishments Act will amount to taking away all the rights of workers of over 99 percent of establishments in the State. The owners will now have the license to exploit their workers to any extent.
Kamgar Ekta Committee calls upon all workers to unite and resist the proposed amendments to the Factories and Shops and Establishments Act. Workers across the country should unite to condemn the move of state government. The working class must defend the right to a 8 hour working day.