AITUC statement on employers who want all limits on worktime to go

All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC)

Date: 10th January 2025

Press Release

The following statement was issued to the press by AITUC today-10th January 2025.

Subrahmanyam, Murthy, Adani want more from the workers - for the nation, of course. Subramanyam of L & T, close on the heels of Murthy of Infosys, wants the workers to work 90 hours a week, also on Sundays, as he claims, he does, all for building the nation.

Sure, India needs all the work hours it can generate. But then what about the raging unemployment? There is youthful energy going waste! The unemployment reaching highest as per latest surveys. Subramanyam and Murthis do not have anything to say on that score.

And whatever wealth is created by the present workforce, at 48 hours a week, there are leeches like Adanis, Ambanis and Choksis and Nirav Modies, and a host of corporates syphoning off the wealth created. There is an indecent, increasing gap between the rich and the poor in India. It has reached to the level of what was there 80 years ago.

It is a personal matter if these honchos find their spouses unattractive. But let them not forget that the working class was driven to demand "8 hours of work, 8 hours of family life and 8 hours of social life" way back in the 19th century and shed their blood 138 year ago, precisely because of such blood-sucking corporates.

The AITUC roundly condemns the 90-hour work suggestion by Mr. Subramanyam.

Amarjeet Kaur
General Secretary AITUC