CITU Flays L&T Chief’s Proposal for 90-Hour Work Week, Demands 35-Hours in 5 Days

New Delhi: The L&T chief SN Subrahmanyan’s remark proposing a 90-hour work week has invited widespread condemnation, especially from trade unions. His remarks follow those made in 2023 by Infosy’s co-founder Narayana Murthy proposing a 70-hour work week.

In a strongly-worded statement, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) said alleged a “rogue competition among the corporate messiahs to rinse the blood and sweat of Indian workers”. It accused big corporates of “active connivance and collaboration with the corporate-communal regime in governance by Modi-led NDA” to increase working hours.

CITU, which demanded a five-day week and 35 hours of work, said the stretching of working hours was already impacting the health and social life of Indian workers. ‘Despite that, these sort of satanic exercises are being made by the corporate class only to further minimize employment as well as labour cost with brutal working conditions to facilitate more intense exploitation on the workers for profit, cost cutting, in the guise of efficiency and productivity, which have led to 11486 suicides in 2022 as per records of Crime Bureau.”

Read the full statement below: 

CITU Condemns the Statement of L&T Chairman urging Introduction of working hours of 90 hours a week…

Demands 5 days week and 35 hours work

Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) vehemently condemns the statement of the Chairman of Larsen & Toubro (L&T) urging for to extending the working hour to 90 hours per week. Similar satanic statement was earlier made by the Infosys Head N.R. Narayan Murthy, urging for increasing working hour of 70 hours per week through statutory measure. It seems that there is a rogue competition among the corporate messiahs to rinse the blood and sweat of Indian workers and they are in active connivance and collaboration with the corporate-communal regime in governance by Modi-led NDA.

 Indian workers, even the permanent ones in the formal sector, are deployed in much more hours of work compared to more productive countries like China, Europe and even the U.S. The stretching of working hours is very disastrously impacting upon the health and social life of the Indian workers. Despite that, these sort of satanic exercise are being made by the corporate class only to further minimize employment as well as labour cost with brutal working conditions to facilitate more intense exploitation on the workers for profit, cost cutting, in the guise of efficiency and productivity, which have led to 11486 suicides in 2022 as per records of Crime Bureau. The extent of severity of inhuman extraction from labour can be seen from the share of wages in net value addition going down sharply to 15.94% in 2022-23 from 27.64% in 1990-91 while share of net profit jumping from 19.06% to 51.92% during the same period as per Annual Survey of Industries report, besides aggravating joblessness.

 Such desperate and filthy competitive bid by the leading corporate houses one after another to increase working hours is in conspiratorial connivance with their obedient Govt at the centre; the Labour Codes already contain provision for such enhancement of working hours through executive decision through appropriate govts. Although the Labour Codes could not yet be notified owing to resistance by trade union movement, we have seen numerous attempts/moves by the BJP ruled state govts and some non-BJP state govts too making exercises to increase working hours to 12 hours a day, which are also being resisted by united trade union movement in many states.

CITU calls upon all sections of the working class to rise in rage and united condemnation against such ugly competitive arrogations by the capitalist class and prepare for united countrywide resistance and combative actions both at workplace and national level in the days to come against conspiratorial satanic move of onslaught on their basic labour rights and social lives. 

 These filthy offensives by the employers class has to be met with the counter offensive of demanding and fighting for lesser working hours a day and working days a week as per World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) demand of 7 hours work a day and 5 days work a week.

Tapan Sen, General Secretary, CITU.