Trade unionists and activists call T.N.’s amendment to Factories Act vague

T.N.’s amendment to Factories Act may extend work hours

The amendment passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly on Friday to the Factories Act, 1948, for ostensibly providing “flexibility” in work hours, but would in effect enable select factories to extend work hours of employees, has attracted widespread criticism.

The intent of the amendment seems to be the same as that of the one passed in BJP-ruled Karnataka in February. However, trade unionists and activists said, compared to Karnataka, Tamil Nadu’s amendment was sweeping, vague and could lead to misuse.

While the Tamil Nadu government assured other political parties and the public on Friday that the weekly cap of a maximum of 48 hours of work would be maintained and only those who voluntarily opt [for such flexibility in work hours] could be made to work for longer hours, none of these safeguards found an explicit mention in the amendment. In contrast, Karnataka’s amendment mentioned them specifically.

Section 51, 52, 54, 55, 56 and 59 of the Factories Act deal with the norms on weekly hours, weekly holidays, daily hours, intervals for rest, spread over (maximum time spent in factory including intervals), and extra wages for overtime, respectively.

Karnataka’s Bill specifically amended section 54 (daily hours), 55 (intervals for rest), 56 (spread over), and 59 (extra wages for overtime). Amendment made to section 54 said the daily maximum work hours could be increased from the present limit of nine to 12 hours, subject to a maximum of 48 hours in a week with the remaining days being paid holidays. Such a change was subject to the written consent of the workers. Further, it amended Section 65 of the Factories Act, which already provided the option of exemption from the work hour norms for certain situations like emergencies, to reflect the changes made to Section 54, 55, 56 and 59.

Instead of such specific amendments, Tamil Nadu’s amendment introduced a new Section “65-A Power to exempt in special cases”, which can override Section 65. This new section, in effect, stated that the government could provide complete exemption from any or all provisions of Sections 51, 52, 54, 55, 56 and 59 of the Act for any particular period to any factory through gazette notifications, “subject to such conditions and restrictions”.