The Odisha government has temporarily changed the daily eight-hour shift to 12 hours by tweaking the Factories Act, 1948, amid opposition from labour organisations.
The State government modified the existing eight-hour shift considering representations of certain industries and industry associations.
“In exercise of power conferred by Section 5 and 65 of the Factories Act, 1948, the Government of Odisha hereby directs that all the factories registered under the said Act will be exempted from provisions relating to weekly, daily hours and interval of rest of adult workers under Section 51, 54, 55 and 56 for a period of three months and a 12-hour shift is allowed in the period,” says a government notification.
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“No adult worker will be allowed or required to work in a factory for more than 12 hours in any day and 72 hours in any week,” it says.
As per the notification, the periods of work of adult workers in a factory each day will be so fixed that no period will exceed six hours and that no worker will work for more than six hours before he has had an interval for rest of at least half an hour. The total spreadover will not exceed 13 hours, it adds.
Similarly, no female worker will be allowed or required to work in a factory between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m. unless specifically permitted by the government in this regard.
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Additional four hours of overtime wages per day should be paid as prescribed under Section 59 of the Factories Act, subject to an overtime limit of 24 hours per week.
‘Dangerous trend’
Terming the tweak in the Act as a dangerous trend, Janardan Pati, president of Centre of Trade Unions (CITU), said, “The change in working hours is against our Constitution. At a time when workers have been impacted the most due to lockdown, making them work for an additional four hours a day defies logic.”
“The 72-hour per week work will have adverse impact on workers’ health,” said Mr. Pati.
