Bengaluru: Irate techies protest over 14-hour work day; 'we are already exhausted, overworked'

Irate Bengaluru techies are gearing up to fight what they describe as a “monstrous” new proposal for a 14-hour work day and against the "next level exploitation" of IT companies.

Two days after the news of the Karnataka government’s proposal to increase the working hours in the IT/ITES/BPO sector to 14 hours a day surfaced, IT employees have already started “gate protest” meetings and street campaigns outside IT parks and companies in Bengaluru.

The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees Union (KITU) has warned the government not to go ahead with this decision and said it will be an “open challenge” to the 20 lakh employees working in the IT/ITes sector in the state.

The move to amend the Karnataka Shops and Commercial Establishments (Amendment) Bill 2024’ attempts to normalise a 14-hour work day. The existing act only allows a maximum of 10 hours work per day, including overtime, which has been completely lifted in the current proposed amendment. Karnataka, which recently got a lot of flak for trying to impose reservation for locals in companies in the state and had to hastily backtrack on the move, is now being strongly criticised for proposing this new amendment.

However, on Monday (July 22) labour minister Santosh Lad told reporters that the proposal to increase the number of hours has come from the heads of corporate companies and top IT companies. They are pushing for this amendment to existing labour laws, he said.

“Since it has sparked a debate everywhere, the corporate heads and employees must internally discuss this, and the government will go according to the people’s interests,” added Lad.

Reacting to the developments, a 25-year-old techie working for a top American multinational at Manyata tech park, said she is not surprised that IT bosses are behind this move to increase working hours.

"They are already overworking us," said the young IT professional, who preferred to be anonymous. “I work for nine hours every day, and since our clients are abroad, we are already working extra hours. If there is something urgent, we have to work late at night too. Some projects involving the financial sector require 24/7 support. My company does not have a shift facility and so, we are never allowed to shut off our phone even on weekends,” she pointed out.

“My life is so stressful as it is, and now they want to regularise a 14-hour day,” she complained.

“Everyone is worried at the office and huddled in groups talking about this increase in working hours. I am sure they will all get up and protest now,” said this young BTech, who moved from Delhi to Bengaluru to work in what she thought was the “glamourous IT industry”. She joined the IT industry in 2021 and does love learning "new things that new tech like Artificial Intelligence can do".

She mocks IT companies for talking about the importance of mental health to employees, flooding them with emails about it and at the same time bringing in more working hours. “Research has shown that 45 per cent of IT employees are already suffering from mental health issues," she pointed out.

She felt that after Narayana Murthy and Ola’s Bhavish Aggarwal started talking about the need for longer work hours, employees knew this was coming.

"The hours combating Bengaluru traffic after 14 hours will only increase our health issues, I am already suffering from migraine and insomnia sitting in front of computer screens for so many hours,” she revealed.

Further, she pointed out that her company wanted her to upskill for promotions and career growth. "But after working 14 hours, where will I have the time to upskill?" she asked. Calling this new proposal “monstrous” and a form of "modern slavery", she admitted that is eager to join the IT Labour union and any major protest that will be organised by them.

A senior system engineer (29 years) working in an American IT software firm in Electronic City in Bengaluru is bitter about what he sees as "exploitation" in the industry.

Working for the last nine years in the IT industry, which was once known as a sunshine sector, he felt IT employers squeeze the maximum amount of work from their employees.

"Since we offer after sales services to our clients in America, we have to be available to our employers even on the weekends. It is a myth that we get weekends off and we have work-from-home facilities. But companies use these benefits to threaten us. We are already battling so many issues, and now they want to regularise our long working hours by making it official. What's worse is that they can continue with two shifts, and sack many people. They can create a situation where we are forced to compete with our colleagues to retain our jobs and increase our stress levels," he pointed out.

Calling the efforts of companies to hold yoga classes and talks by psychologists as a “joke”, he said that the IT bosses need to first address the basic issues caused by them.

A KITU member, this IT professional from Kerala, felt he is left with no option but to join a protest against IT firms. "Ultimately, for companies it is about maximising their profits. But I feel it is not going to be easy for them to get this rule implemented. Everyone is very upset,” he said.

According to him, people are already exhausted. "If these companies had to hire this same team in the US, they would have to pay US dollars on an hourly basis. That is the reason they are coming here. But, in the process, they do not care for their employees' health. If you die they will take another one to replace you."

"If there is no mechanism to talk to employees this move will blow out of proportion," he warned, adding that IT companies will be badly affected by this "next level of exploitation".

Meanwhile, Suhas Adiga, general secretary of KITU hit out at the Karnataka government for not considering workers as "human beings who need personal and social life to survive". Instead, the government considers them only as a machine to increase the profit of the corporates to whom it serves, he added.

"This amendment comes at a time when the world is starting to accept the fact that increased working hours are negatively impacting productivity and more countries are coming with new legislations to accept the right to disconnect as a basic right of any employee," he said. Moreover, he felt that this amendment will allow the companies to go for a two-shift system instead of the currently existing three shift system and one third of the workforce will be thrown out from their employment.