3 days week off - This state is bringing a new rule!!!

The karnataka State IT/ITES Employees Union (KITU) has urged the Siddaramaiah-led government to reconsider its alleged plan to increase working hours for employees of the IT/ITES/BPO sector.

The union claims that the government plans to raise the number of hours that employees can work to fourteen. A press statement stated that at a recent meeting with industry stakeholders called by the Labor Department, a suggestion to change the karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments Act in this regard was made.

The conference was attended by union representatives as well as labor minister Santosh Lad, members of the Labor Department, and the Ministry of Information technology and Biotechnology (IT-BT). The union vehemently disagreed with the proposed modification, claiming it violated every employee's basic right to privacy.

According to the press release, the Labor minister decided to hold additional discussions before making a decision. The karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2024, a proposed new bill, according to the union, aims to normalize the 14-hour workday, although the current Act only permits a maximum of 10 hours of work per day, including overtime.

According to the union, the proposal would enable employers to fire one-third of their personnel and switch to a two-shift schedule from the three-shift schedule that is presently in use.

At the conference, KITU cited research on the negative effects of longer workdays on the health of IT workers and declared, "The karnataka government is completely neglecting the most fundamental right of any person, the right to life, in its hunger to please its 'corporate' masters."

According to the union, this modification demonstrates that the karnataka government does not view its workers as fellow humans who depend on their social and personal lives for survival. Rather, it views them merely as a piece of equipment to boost the "corporates" it works with's earnings.

The group called on the government to rethink its decision and cautioned that the 20 lakh workers in Karnataka's IT/ITES sector would be left exposed to dispute any attempt to move forward with the amendment.