COVID-19: Karnataka okays extra work hours at factories

Workers in all of Karnataka's factories will have to give more hours at work as the state government on Friday exempted those establishments coming under the Factories Act from sticking to prescribed weekly and daily work hours.

In a notification, the government has allowed factories to make employees work for ten hours a day, and sixty hours in a week. There is no exemption, however, from having to pay workers extra wage for overtime.

At present, Section 51 of the Factories Act limits working hours to 48 hours per week, and Section 54 keeps it at a maximum of nine hours per day.

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The exemption will be valid till August 21, 2020.

The decision was met with stern opposition by trade union leaders, who called it "a unilateral decision" but Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbar defended it.

Speaking to DH, Hebbar said that the notification will be placed before the next Cabinet meeting for a post-facto approval. "This has been done in five other states to help industries tide over the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 lockdown," he said.

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) opposed it, threatening to hit the streets in protest. "In many tri-party meetings between labourers, factory owners and the government, nobody had sought an extension of working hours. The chief minister did not consult the workers before this unilateral decision," CITU state president S Varalakshmi said.

Another leader Meenakshi Sundaram said that the order would aggravate the exploitation of workers in factories and also reduce employment opportunities due to increased working hours of existing employees. "The companies are looking at layoffs as there is no production. Increasing working hours won't help anybody," he said.

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Hebbar defended the decision saying that the order was essential to ensure the factories continue production. "Extra hours is not a permanent feature. It is temporary and will be revised when the economy picks speed," he said.

The Karnataka Employers' Association, in its petition to the CM, had sought 12-hour work daily with four hours of overtime with a single wage. It has also sought relaxation from provisions under the Industrial Disputes Act, which require industrial establishments employing 100 or more workmen to seek government permission to layoff, retrench employees or close itself down among other amendments.