DYFI stages road roko demanding withdrawal of Bill allowing 12-hour shift in factories

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Saturday staged a road roko near Periyar bus stand in Madurai in protest against the recent Bill passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly to increase daily working hours from eight hours to 12 hours in factories and establishments.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Saturday staged a road roko near Periyar bus stand in Madurai in protest against the recent Bill passed in the Tamil Nadu Assembly to increase daily working hours from eight hours to 12 hours in factories and establishments.

Led by its district president A. Pavel Sinthan, activists raised slogans against the Bill passed to amend the Factories Act, 1948, and demanded its immediate withdrawal.

“The Bill will only make robots out of the workforce. Working for such long hours will only have an adverse effect on the health of employees,” said DYFI secretary T. Selvam.

The Bill, if implemented, would pave the way for ‘slavery’ in the working sector. “It only favours businessmen and company owners at the cost of the employees’ labour rights. It is as though the law itself denies rights to its people. Even as the youth are being exploited under categories of outsourcing and jobs on contract basis, the Bill only comes as a heavy blow,” he added.

DYFI treasurer K. Vel Deva said the Bill was a taint to the well-proclaimed ‘Dravidian model’ ideology of the DMK government since Tamil Nadu was the only non-BJP governed State to pass such a Bill.

The protestors expressed doubts over the wages and other arrangements in terms of holidays and additional wages included in the Bill.

Around 30 protestors were detained by the police and were later released in the evening.