New bill extending factory working hours: TN govt invites trade unions for talks

The legislation was passed amid strong opposition from various political parties, including DMK allies – Congress, CPI, and CPI(M) – which said that it will give an opening to companies to exploit workers.

The government, however, has assured that the total working hours in a week will remain unchanged at 48 and reiterated that the legislation provides flexible working hours to workers, which will especially benefit women.

According to an official, the new changes were “only an option being made available to the employee and employer and definitely not mandatory.”

“We will notify the list of industries applicable to this option. If Karnataka bill had amended the Act for all industries, we have not done so. We amended the Act and added that we will notify where this will apply. There are a lot of conditions to qualify for this. The workplace should be spacious, work should not be hard, worker’s stay is near the factory etc. Once the amendment is approved, the notified list will be released. Hence it will be applicable only to select factories which apply and fulfill all those conditions,” the official added.

Despite assurances from the government, various parties, including the MDMK, CPI(M), VCK, PMK, MMK and the BJP opposed the Bill while the Congress staged a walkout from the Assembly Friday. Main opposition AIADMK also condemned the new bill Saturday.