Opposing any increase in working hours for labourers in Karnataka, the Joint Committee of Trade Unions (JCTU), an umbrella organisation of nine trade unions in the State, on Saturday said it would stage protests from Monday against the move to dilute labour laws.
The protests by trade unions in Bengaluru will take place at the factory gates as the unions have desisted from taking out big rallies owing to the prevailing COVID-19 situation. On May 18, the trade unions plan to hold a Statewide protest.
“Under the pretext of the COVID-19 lockdown, employers’ bodies are lobbying with the State government to increase working hours to 12 hours a day,” the JCTU said in a release. It also pointed out that amendments were being proposed to permit industries to announce layoffs, terminations and closures without prior permission and exemption of contract labour registration. The JCTU said that the working class rights of eight-hour days and right to stable employment were hard-won rights.
