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CITU to campaign for slashed weekly work hours -P Sudhakaran
-The Times of India


KANNUR: The CITU will next month launch a nationwide campaign, demanding the working hours in private sector companies be slashed to 35 hours from the present 48 hours a week. The campaign is to create more job opportunities.

"One of our major discussions at the all-India conference of the CITU that concluded in Kannur on Monday was on the rising number of unemployed youth despite an increase in the productivity and profit of several organisations, especially in the manufacturing and service sector," CITU national president A K Padmanabhan told TOI over the telephone on Wednesday.

With the advancement of technology, especially robotics, the productivity per employee and also that of enterprises have increased. However, leading firms, including multinational companies, were not sharing their profit with the employees, he said.

Employment generation during the 11th plan period was just 0.7% while the GDP grew around 8%. It reflected the increased productivity of individuals and rise in profits, which didn't create new jobs, Padmanabhan said.

"If the working hours are slashed by over 25%, it will create more employment opportunities, and we are going to launch a campaign from May 30 to June 14, demanding large corporate firms to initiate the implementation of the new pattern."

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) has been campaigning for reduced working hours since 2011, and the pattern has been successfully implemented in several countries, including France, he claimed.

The WFTU will be launching a global campaign on October 3, 2013, demanding the reduction of working hours, the CITU leader said. Padmanabhan felt the reduced working hours would effectively address the exploitation of employees.

"If there is any adverse impact on the unorganized sector or smaller enterprises, we can always solve it through discussions. The issues pertaining to shifts, too, can be solved amicably once the managements are ready to implement the new pattern," he said, adding that technological advancement should benefit not just the employers, but the employees as well. The CITU would oppose any move to reduce salary, he said.

"Our demand is that the corporate entities-both in the service as well as manufacturing sectors-should give more profit share to employees. Even if the working hours are reduced the employees deserve their current salary," Padmanabhan said. He added the new pattern of working hours could be implemented in government sector as well.

Padmanabhan sounded positive when asked if private firms would agree to the CITU's demand. "They will have to, because we are not demanding any undue share, but raising a justifiable demand. We know that the employees deserve a better deal," he said.