Latest news with #TheFactoriesAct
The Hindu
22-07-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
Reforms or regression?
The Andhra Pradesh government's decision to amend labour laws is running into rough weather. In a meeting of the Council of Ministers on June 4, the Labour, Factories, Boilers and Insurance Medical Services Department proposed amendments to certain provisions of The Factories Act, 1948, and The Andhra Pradesh Shops and Establishments Act, 1988. The amendments, approved by the Cabinet, enable factories to increase the maximum number of work hours a day from nine to 10; the maximum continuous work period before a mandatory rest break from five hours to six; and the overtime cap from 75 hours to 144 per quarter. Maintaining that it is simply following 'global practices', the government said that the amendments are part of its 'Ease of Doing Business' policy and will help attract investments. It also believes that those who are physically fit will be able to work longer hours and earn more. The Left parties and labour unions hold that these changes, which they term 'anti-worker policies', infringe on workers' rights. Civil rights bodies have also decried the amendments and have demanded that they be withdrawn unconditionally. The focus of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in the State is industrial development. The State government wants to attract more industries to backward areas such as Rayalaseema and create a large number of employment opportunities. If the NDA succeeds in pulling off this feat, it would translate into a major poll plank for the alliance in the next elections. The government claims to have attracted several major industries to set up shop over the past year. It has also allocated land to those showing a keen interest in investing in the State. The government wants to tap the potential in investment in the defence, textiles, apparels, renewable energy, medical devices, and food processing sectors. The government also wants to lift restrictions on women working between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m., to increase the number of women workers in the formal sector. It argues that providing safeguards such as CCTV cameras, proper lighting at the workplace, and transport facilities will help it achieve this goal. It says that this will also expand job opportunities for women as they will not only get work in small-scale units, but also in factories and the corporate sector. Proposals to amend labour laws have always been opposed by employees' unions and the working class across the world, and Andhra Pradesh is no exception. The Left-backed labour unions have announced protests. Even some government departments, including the Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation, have opposed the move. The unions say that the amendments were brought about due to pressure from the Centre. They also demand to know why the amendments do not talk about a hike in wages in line with the increase in work hours. Representing the voice of civil rights groups, the Human Rights Forum said that the increase in work hours is not a 'reform' but a 'regressive move' and that it shows how the government treats with contempt decades of labour struggles that have advocated for — and achieved — a humane and sustainable work environment. The Forum added that the amendments amounted to not just exploitation in terms of wages, but also paved the way for normalising overwork. This, it said, takes away the workers' right to rest and strips away dignity from labour. Labour unions and civil rights groups have said that the amendments are 'an irresponsible and deliberate assault on labour rights and dignity' and demanded that they be withdrawn immediately. Having promised industries on the one hand and facing opposition from workers on the other, the State government faces a tough balancing act. Earlier too, Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu's style of functioning was criticised by government employees and even adversely affected the poll prospects of the Telugu Desam Party. When he returned to power in 2024, Mr. Naidu departed from his earlier style of functioning and made it clear that he wanted to keep employees happy. But with these amendments, he is likely to be in the firing line once again. Implementing the amendments by prevailing upon industries to pay higher wages might work in his favour.
Time of India
09-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
10-hr factory workdays bill gets cabinet approval
Panaji: The state cabinet on Wednesday approved the Factories (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2025, seeking to increase working hours in factories from the existing nine to 10 hours. The bill seeks to amend Section 65 of the Act to increase the total overtime hours from 125 to 144 in any quarter. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now It will be introduced in the monsoon session of the assembly, scheduled to commence from July 21. Chief minister Pramod Sawant said a bill to amend The Factories Act, 1948 (Central Act 63 of 1948), is in force in Goa. Govt of India had constituted a task force for achieving compliance reduction and deregulations under the chairmanship of the cabinet secretary, and to assist states and Union Territories (UTs) in reforming and simplifying regulations and procedures to improve the ease of doing business and ease of living. The task force has identified various priority areas. Under the 'labour priority area', it was recommended to revise the working hour limits for factories through legislative or regulatory changes. With respect to compliance with the recommendations, state govt or, subject to the control of state govt, the chief inspector, has powers to vary the existing limits. Accordingly, the department varied the existing limits prescribed under Section 55 and Section 56 of the said Act, respectively. 'With regard to compliance with the recommendations pertaining to the increase in daily hours of work from nine to 10 hours and the increase in the total hours of overtime work in any quarter from 125 hours to 144 hours, it is submitted that they shall require amendment to the relevant provisions of The Factories Act, 1948,' the cabinet said.
Hans India
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
HRF condemns AP's10-hour workday bill
Visakhapatnam: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) condemned the recent assent by the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet to the AP Factories Amendment Bill, 2025 that seeks to impose a 10-hour work day. This, the HRF representatives opine, is an irresponsible and deliberate assault on labour rights and dignity. 'We demand its immediate and unconditional withdrawal. This move, sought to be brought about through an amendment to The Factories Act, 1948, is no 'reform' but a grotesque regression. It is plainly exploitative and treats with contempt decades of labour struggles that have advocated for and attained a humane and sustainable work environment,' mentioned HRF AP state general secretary Y Rajesh and HRF AP and TG coordination committee member VS Krishna. These rights have a long and glorious history, wrested through generations of hard-fought battles led by the working class and progressive movements. The state government now seeks to dismantle these rights so as to benefit corporate interests, they pointed out. The eight-hour work day is the cornerstone of modern labour rights. The HRF recalled the historic legacy of BR Ambedkar who played a decisive role in institutionalising the eight-hour workday. This is now being sought to be rolled back. Extending the maximum daily working hours amounts to entrenching exploitation and a roll-back of hard-won labour safeguards. It normalises overwork, erodes the right to rest and leisure and strips away dignity from labour. This measure constitutes a fundamental breach of the government's constitutional obligations, they emphasised. HRF calls upon all democratic forces to oppose this devious move.
Hans India
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Hans India
HRF condemns AP's 10-hour workday bill
Visakhapatnam: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) condemned the recent assent by the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet to the AP Factories Amendment Bill, 2025 that seeks to impose a 10-hour work day. This, the HRF representatives opine, is an irresponsible and deliberate assault on labour rights and dignity. 'We demand its immediate and unconditional withdrawal. This move, sought to be brought about through an amendment to The Factories Act, 1948, is no 'reform' but a grotesque regression. It is plainly exploitative and treats with contempt decades of labour struggles that have advocated for and attained a humane and sustainable work environment,' mentioned HRF AP state general secretary Y Rajesh and HRF AP and TG coordination committee member VS Krishna. These rights have a long and glorious history, wrested through generations of hard-fought battles led by the working class and progressive movements. The state government now seeks to dismantle these rights so as to benefit corporate interests, they pointed out. The eight-hour work day is the cornerstone of modern labour rights. The HRF recalled the historic legacy of BR Ambedkar who played a decisive role in institutionalising the eight-hour workday. This is now being sought to be rolled back. Extending the maximum daily working hours amounts to entrenching exploitation and a roll-back of hard-won labour safeguards. It normalises overwork, erodes the right to rest and leisure and strips away dignity from labour. This measure constitutes a fundamental breach of the government's constitutional obligations, they emphasised. HRF calls upon all democratic forcesto oppose this devious move.
Time of India
10-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Human Rights Forum slams Andhra Pradesh's 10-hour workday bill as assault on labour rights, demands immediate rollback
VISAKHAPATNAM: The Human Rights Forum (HRF) unequivocally condemns the recent assent by the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet to the AP Factories Amendment Bill, 2025, which seeks to impose a 10-hour workday. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is an irresponsible and deliberate assault on labour rights and dignity. We demand its immediate and unconditional withdrawal. This move, sought to be brought about through an amendment to The Factories Act, 1948, is no 'reform' as the govt is dressing it up, but a grotesque regression. It is plainly exploitative and treats with contempt decades of labour struggles that advocated for and attained a humane and sustainable work environment. These rights have a long and glorious history, wrested through generations of hard-fought battles led by the working class and progressive movements. The state govt now seeks to dismantle these rights to benefit corporate interests. The HRF team, Y Rajesh (AP State General Secretary) and VS Krishna (AP and TG Coordination Committee Member), mentioned that the 8-hour workday is the cornerstone of modern labour rights. It was not a benevolent capitalist handout but realised through decades of working-class resistance. We recall the historic legacy of BR Ambedkar, who played a decisive role in institutionalising the 8-hour workday. He was, in many ways, its architect. Ambedkar's relentless efforts in the 1940s, in conjunction with working-class struggles, led to an 8-hour cap on daily work, thereby curtailing cruel and lengthy work hours. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now This is now being sought to be rolled back, they added. HRF believes that the much-bandied-about 'ease/speed of doing business' has become a euphemism for gutting labour rights to appease capital. In current policy discourse in the state, 'attracting investment' is shorthand for systematic deregulation, casualisation, weakening of regulatory oversight, and erosion of labour rights. Extending the maximum daily working hours amounts to entrenching exploitation and a rollback of hard-won labour safeguards. It normalises overwork, erodes the right to rest and leisure, and strips away dignity from labour. This measure constitutes a fundamental breach of the govt's constitutional obligations. HRF calls upon all democratic forces to oppose this devious and retrograde move.
