Employees fume as IT firms submit proposal to Karnataka govt to increase 9-hour workday to 14 hours

After a controversial debate for 100% job reservation proposal of Group C and D for locals, the Karnataka State Government is considering increasing the daily working hours of the Information Technology Industry to 14 hours (12+2) from the current maximum work time of 10 hours (8+2). This move came days after the state faced a controversy over a jobs for locals policy.

Concerns Raised by Union Workers;

The Karnataka State IT/ITeS (KITU) has expressed its concerns over the potential change, highlighting the significant impact it would have on the employees. KITU’s press statement didn’t address whether the current upper limit of 48 working hours per week would be revised or not. There has been no statement from the government regarding this.

Labour Minister’s Stance;

Karnataka’s Labor Minister, Santosh Lad has clearly opposed the amendments of the employee working hours although he has not yet given any statement on the issue. The lack of the statement has sparked off quite a resentment among the workers and IT industry experts.

The debate is in boiling mode as the stakeholders await to have more information about the issue as these might affect the workforce and business operations of the particular industry in the state.

Job Reservation Row;

The Karnataka State government has paused a bill from passing that talks about 75% reservation for local candidates in non managerial jobs and 50% reservation for locals in management jobs.

Prior to this, states such as Andhra Pradesh and Haryana tried to impose reservations for locals in the private sector but failed due to political challenges and legal battles that came with the issues.