Our Bureau
Mumbai
This Wednesday, on September 3rd, the Maharashtra cabinet has approved the new amendment of the labour laws that was recently proposed. The new amendment has now allowed companies to increase the maximum daily working hours for private sector employees from 9 hours to 10. This decision by the cabinet has triggered a debate on social media with many criticising the decision.
As per the revised framework of the labour laws, the employer will have to provide an overtime compensation for the extra hour that they have increased in the working hours. The daily cap for the industries will also be extended by 3 hours and gone from 9 to 12 hours along with rest breaks to be allowed after 6 hours from the earlier 5. The quarterly overtime ceiling will now also be moved from 115 hours to 144 hours but will require the written consent from the company’s workers.
Although it was reported that these changes are brought in to boost investment, generate more jobs and upholding workers’ rights, social media users have raised concerns over the working hours and called it a regressive step which undermines international stands on labour rights. He even went as far as to call it exploitations and the government choosing profits over people.
A user wrote, “Maharashtra’s decision to hike factory work hours to 12/day & overtime to 144/quarter is a step backward! Ignores global best practices (35-40 hr/wk) and risks worker burnout. Profits over people? We need balanced labour laws, not exploitation!”
One user stated that if there is proper compensation for the extra then it is okay otherwise the workers may simply be forced to do more for less pay. People also criticised the government for giving priority to industry interests on the back of ordinary workers.
Another user wrote, “If employees get extra pay for that 10th hour, then it’s good, else private companies are ruthless, by doing stressful work and time analysis, they force employees, get extra work for free overtime.”
Another user added, “8 hours working day to create more jobs. Dear sir, you are just supporting the industrial lobby, not for people.”
