Factories Act, Spread over, 12 hours shift, New Labor codes
Under factories Act as on date the spread over is 10.5 hours which is 5 hours working then 0.5 hrs rest and again 5 hrs working. If the total hours of work in the week is 48 hours or more than 9 hours per day OT will be applicable. Maximum working hours available in the above system is 10 hours.
There is also provision of 12 hours shift with the permission of Chief Inspector of Factories (CIF). In Jute Mill the spread over is 12 hours when the shift allotment is 6 am to 10 am then rest for 10 am to 2 p.m and again duty from 2 pm to 6 pm. Spread over 12 hours but working hours 8. The system is such that one Jute Mill worker will work for 4 hours and back to Basti (Staying place adjacent to Jute Mill ) for house hold jobs including cooking and eating and again come back for the job. There may be some safety reason for less continuous exposure to work place. I have no idea whether the above system has been changed or not.
In new Labor Codes 12 hours Spread Over is allowed without permission of CIF. There are interpretation that workers will work for 4 days which will be equal to 4*12 = 48 hrs and will be 3 days weekly off. Even Labor Ministers & TU leaders of some States are also interpretating in the similar way. This arrangement will not be possible as the OT clause will not be abolished. In this system total working hours will be 11 = 5 hrs work + 0.5 hrs rest + 5 hours work + 0.5 hrs rest + 1 hour work. = Working hours 11 and rest hours in two phases 1. Therefore, there will be every day 3 hours OT and the maximum limit of OT hours per week / quarter will be crossed. To my opinion it will be impossible.
Now let us find out other factors for continuous work for more than 8 hours. Human being are not machine. There will be fatigue for working long hours. Probability of accident will be more. Efficiency curve of the worker will come down while working long hours which will also create direct impact to quality and productivity.
In present system there are lot of Organizations who are engaging contract labors 12 hours shift even in core activities and also not paying any OT. This is just exploitation and illegal. There are authorities who should check and control the system. But unfortunately, those authorities either corrupted or very casual. Improvement will be possible if the PEs are ethical and follow the labor laws properly.
S K Bandyopadhyay ( WB, Howrah)
CEO-USD HR Solutions
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