Workers should unite to realise May Day dream of an eight-hour working day

Workers work more than 48 hours per week in Asia–Pacific with the highest proportion of workers working for more than 48 hours in Southern Asia (57.1 percent) and Eastern Asia (47.7 percent) as against the lowest proportion of workers with long working hours (11 percent) in Europe and Central Asia..—.INDIA first observed May Day in Madras (now Chennai) in 1923 when Communist leader M.S. Chettiar tore off a piece of his daughter's red saree to hoist the 'Red Flag'. Ironically, as the country commemorates 100 years of that event, the Tamil Nadu government has amended the Factories Act, 1948, to exempt factories from working hour regulations in the name of "flexibility". It will invariably result in increased working hours..May Day, or International Workers' Day, originated in the massive wave of worker strikes and demonstrations that swept the USA in 1886. One of the pamphlets making the rounds on May 1, 1886, called upon workers to observe it as "a day of revolt … a day on which to enjoy eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, eight hours for what we will.".Of course, this was not received kindly by employers. On May 4, a bomb went off at a meeting organised at Haymarket Square, Chicago, in response to an attack on striking workers. One policeman was killed and several others injured. Seven labour leaders were put on trial and four (the 'Haymarket Four') hanged to death..“Long working hours have remained an issue since the early period of the Industrial Revolution. However, most employers across the world haven't fulfilled the eight-hour working day demand. .The Second International, an international organisation of socialist and labour parties working towards socialism, passed a resolution in Paris in 1890 calling for May 1 to be observed globally as a day that would reiterate the demand for an eight-hour working day..Also read: May Day: The eight hour day, the labour Codes and unfree labour.As long working hours have remained an issue since the early period of the Industrial Revolution, the International Labour Organization's (ILO) first convention was titled the 'Hours of Work (Industry) Convention, 1919 (No. 1). However, most employers across the world haven't fulfilled the eight-hour working day demand..Longer work hours in developing countries.Interestingly, a recent ILO report titled Working Time and Work-Life Balance Around the World points out how working hours in developed countries have reduced over the past century compared to workers working for longer hours in developing countries, especially in emerging economies, based on pre-COVID data..Workers work more than 48 hours per week in Asia–Pacific with the highest proportion of workers working for more than 48 hours in Southern Asia (57.1 percent) and Eastern Asia (47.7 percent) as against the lowest proportion of workers with long working hours (11 percent) in Europe and Central Asia..Clearly, this has to do with the development and expansion of global supply chains facilitated by information and communication. The insistence on dismantling existing labour laws in several countries to promote 'flexible labour' has to be understood in this context— and the push to remove statutory restrictions on working hours in India is another step in that direction..The push to make workers in India work longer hours.Therefore, the Tamil Nadu amendment wasn't unexpected. It followed the Karnataka government's recent amendment to the Factories Act which increased the maximum working hours to 12 without payment for overtime. Besides, workers can be made to work for up to six hours without a break. Employers can run establishments for 24 hours in two shifts for four days and keep them closed for the rest, leading to considerable cost savings. Other states, particularly where the BJP is in power, such as Maharashtra, are waiting to follow suit..These changes are entirely in tune with the four labour codes notified by the Centre when the working population was battling pandemic-induced lockdowns. Like the three farm laws, the codes were pushed through without serious objections from trade unions, including those affiliated with the ruling BJP..Particularly, the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, seeks to replace important laws such as the Factories Act and others that govern working conditions in specific sectors, such as beedi, plantation, docks, journalism and cinema..“According to the National Statistical Office's 2019 Time Use Survey, urban men, on average, spend 514 minutes per day (more than 8.5 hours) on employment and related activities and 134 minutes (about 2.25 hours) on the production of goods for their use..Though the code restricts the number of working hours to eight, it is silent on weekly working hours, period of work, rest intervals, overtime duty, spread-over hours, etc., as clearly defined in earlier Acts. Therefore, workers can be made to do overtime perpetually without consent. It is a mockery of the right to an eight-hour working day, which workers sought to popularise more than 136 years ago..It is another matter that the eight-hour day, a privilege for a minuscule section of the working class, is exceeded in cases of manual labour and workers slogging longer to make ends meet. A classic example is domestic workers, many of whom work more than 12–14 hours but are wrongly described as "part-timers" because the working time in every household is sometimes even less than an hour..Also read: Domestic work: A bleak reality of missing laws and inadequate rights.The ILO report notes that while self-employed workers usually work longer than employees, the pattern is reversed in South Asia, where a much larger proportion of employees (70.3 percent) than self-employed workers (54.2 percent) regularly work long hours. Long working hours are seen in 45 percent of employees in informal jobs, twice the proportion for employees in the formal sector— and it is the highest in Asia–Pacific, an important region in the global supply chain..According to the National Statistical Office's 2019 Time Use Survey, urban men, on average, spend 514 minutes per day (more than 8.5 hours) on employment and related activities and 134 minutes (about 2.25 hours) on the production of goods for their use. Urban women spend fewer hours (6.25 hours and 1 hour) because the unpaid content of their work is higher. In rural areas, the time spent on producing goods for own use is higher for both men (3.38 hours) and women (2 hours)..Interestingly, only 87 percent of the respondents reported participating in activities related to culture, leisure, mass media and sports, pointing to the severe deprivation of leisure time that the American workers aspired to in 1886 when they said, "Eight hours for what we will.".And the women?.The survey also reveals several aspects of women's work burden that must be reiterated because they are neglected despite drawing attention to them for policy intervention. May Day seems appropriate to revisit some of them..The survey shows that on average, women spent 299 minutes (almost five hours) on unpaid domestic work for the family compared to only 97 minutes (1.5 hours) by men with no significant difference in rural and urban areas. In addition, women spend an additional 134 minutes (a little more than two hours) on unpaid caregiving for their family members compared to only 76 minutes (1.25 hours) for men..“Workers must resolve to remove from power governments that go against their interests. It will require an unprecedented unity of interest..These figures and the umbrella concept of 'unpaid domestic work and caregiving' reveal the drudgery and monotonous nature of women's everyday lives and the huge gender discrimination. Women spend 15 hours a week cooking compared to only half-an-hour spent by men. Another 10.65 hours are spent by women on cleanliness-related activities (men half-an-hour) and 4.22 hours on their children (men around 50 minutes)..There are also marked differences in rest and recreation. On average, women appear to get about an hour less of sleep; in activities such as reading, watching TV, listening to music and reading the newspaper, men spend 7.21 hours a week (more than an hour every day) compared to women (6.47 hours per week, which is less than an hour)..On a more amusing note, men spend 7.62 hours a week "talking and gossiping" compared to 7.02 hours for women, busting the myth that the latter gossip more. Regarding physical exercise, women spend a mere 8 minutes a week compared to 40 minutes for men. Of course, the general picture is one of leisure-deprivation for all, the survey reveals..Overall, measures to reduce women's unpaid work burden, compensate them for their unpaid and underpaid labour, and social campaigns to promote sharing of care work and greater rest and leisure time for women are necessary to redress this vast imbalance..Also read: India Making Way For Four-day Work Week, with Longer Working Hours.The great reshuffler: COVID.Notably, this data pertains to pre-Covid times. The pandemic has wrought fundamental changes in work patterns with many people who lost jobs yet to return to the same income level. One crucial change firmly instituted is the concept of 'work from home' or 'teleworking', which is simply a sophisticated, technologically advanced version of 'home-based work'. More information is emerging about how it has disturbed the lives of employees who now are at the beck and call of managers and supervisors 24×7..Even in pre-Covid times, this modern IT-driven 'bondage' prompted a movement for the 'Right to Disconnect" (where employees demanded the right to switch off their electronic devices after work hours) with some countries such as France and Germany bringing it onto their statute books..In India too, a Private Member's Bill on similar lines was introduced but never saw the light of day. Even Anganwadi and ASHAs spend hours after their visits punching in reports on their mobile phones at their own expense with the government pushing for more digitisation and electronic supervision..Massive strikes and protests were reported worldwide in the last few months as workers united against governments increasingly pushing back the boundaries laid down in protective legislation after years of struggle. In France, the increase in retirement age to 64 years and the number of years of service for full pension has met with stiff resistance. This is another way to increase working hours..“On an amusing note, men spend 7.62 hours a week "talking and gossiping" compared to 7.02 hours for women, busting the myth that the latter gossip more..In Germany and the UK, school teachers, train drivers, civil servants and municipal waste workers have been striking for better pay as real wages are falling due to inflation. In Italy, transport workers are striking to protest 'worsening working conditions'. Last year, railway workers in the US struck work after being denied short-term paid sick leave..In India too, electricity workers in states such as Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra have struck work and rejected the privatisation of state electricity boards. The historic farmers' struggle ensured the delay in the Electricity (Amendment) Bill, 2022, and the scrapping of the three farm laws..Banks and insurance employees have been persistently opposed to privatisation. Coal workers went on strike to prevent commercial mining. Defence employees protested the corporatisation of ordinance factories and could only be stopped after the ban on strikes in the sector..The struggle by employees demanding the scrapping of the New Pension Scheme has gathered momentum as many states, such as Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Chhattisgarh, have announced a return to the Old Pension Scheme with its assured benefits. Thousands of Anganwadi and ASHAs regularly protest in every state as they struggle for better wages and working conditions..This is a critical juncture for the world's working class as it struggles to defend its hard-won rights from being taken away by neoliberal governments, who continue to push hard for greater liberalisation of protective labour legislation..Ultimately, the solutions are political. Workers must resolve to remove from power governments that go against their interests. It will require an unprecedented unity of interest. The dream of an eight-hour working day with eight hours of rest and leisure must not be allowed to die.

Workers should unite to realise May Day dream of an eight-hour working day

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