90 hours work: Does the corporate sector want to make employees slaves?
#News Bureau January 11,2025
SN Subramanian, chairman of L&T (Larsen & Toubro), a big infrastructure company, wants people to work on Sundays as well. Earlier, Infosys founder Narayan Murthy had also advocated working for 70 hours a week. But Subramanian went even further and advocated working for 90 hours a week. Many other renowned industrialists came out in support of these two big industrialists. But there is a widespread reaction to this in the country. 90 hours work is trending on Twitter. But have the corporate jumlabaaz or the public ever tried to find out how much struggle was gone through to get the right to 8 hours of wages or work? Slavery has ended but India is slowly being pushed towards corporate slavery. You will be surprised to know the salary of such jumlabaaz. All these issues are being mentioned in this report. The condition is to read it completely.
What did Subramanian say
L&T Chairman SN Subramanian said during a conversation that he would have been happier if he had made his employees work on Sunday. The video clip of his statement was shared on Reddit and it immediately went viral. SN Subramanian said, “I am sorry that I am not able to make you work on Sunday. If I can make you work on Sunday, I will be happier, because I work on Sunday. What do you do sitting at home? How long can you stare at your wife? How long will wives keep staring at their husbands? Come on, go to the office and start working.”
How much salary does the chairman get
Larsen & Toubro Chairman SN Subramanian took a total salary of ₹ 51 crore in 2023-24. That is, he gets a salary of Rs 14 lakh per day. Subramanian’s salary is 534.57 times the average salary of L&T employees. His salary in 2023-24 included ₹ 3.6 crore basic salary, a pre-fixed amount of ₹ 1.67 crore and ₹ 35.28 crore as commission. He also received a retirement benefit of ₹ 10.5 crore, taking the total amount to ₹ 51 crore.
Thousands of people criticising Subramanian on social media unanimously said that the L&T chairman and MD earned much more than an average employee. So he does not have to worry about household responsibilities. That is why he is left free to spend time at work. Some people have also quipped that neither he needs to stare at his wife nor his wife needs to stare at the MD sahab.
It is not that all the industrialists are supporting this blindly. Industrialist Harsh Goenka has used the word slave while speaking very sensibly. Harsh Goenka has written- 90 hours a week? Why not rename Sunday as ‘sun-duty’ and make ‘day off’ a mythical concept! I believe in working hard and smartly, but turning life into a continuous office shift? This is a recipe for exhaustion, not success. Work life balance is not optional, it is necessary. Well, this is my view! #Work Smart Not Slave. Let us tell you that Harsh Goenka is the chairman of RPG Group. Which includes more than 15 companies. His total turnover is 4.7 billion US dollars. He is also included in the Forbes rich list.
It was not very easy to get the right to 8 hours duty
In the 1850s, there have been struggles for 8 hours duty all over the world. Workers were beaten up for this demand. Such atrocities were committed that if it is written here, it will become a very big report. This demand was discussed in the historic May Day 1884 Pittsburgh Convention. The workers’ organizations said that “Eight hours will be the legal duty from May 1, 1886.” In this conference, many proposals were passed regarding more leave, better living standards and better wages. After this, 8 hours duty was gradually implemented in all countries.
How the capitalist system works. The struggle for 8 hours duty is an example of that. Slavery was abolished in all the countries of the world and the British colony countries after 1800, but people did not get 8 hours duty. They had to work for weeks without rest like before. Slavery was abolished in India in 1843.
When Narayan Murthy’s statement about working 70 hours came. So at that time, business giants like Bhavish Aggarwal of Ola, Sajjan Jindal of Jindal Steel Works Group and L&T Chairman Emeritus AM Naik had publicly supported the proposal of a 70-hour work week. But the re-emergence of the debate on increasing working hours highlights the relentless efforts of the capitalist ruling class to snatch away the eight-hour working day. The victory of the working class of 8 hours duty is now stinging them.
Modi government’s Labor Code in 2019
After forming the government again, the Modi government released the Labor Code (Code of Wages, 2019) in 2019. In which duty was allowed to be up to 12 hours. In this, companies were given the freedom to lay off workers arbitrarily. Trade unions feared that the company owners would misuse this and make the workers work more than the prescribed eight hours. These labor codes are currently on hold due to the opposition of trade unions. It is being said that long duty increases productivity. But the debate on this continues. But somewhere the Modi government’s labour code has to do with these corporate jumlabaaz.
The International Labour Organisation (ILO) says that India already has the hardest working force in the world. The ILO reports that, in 2023, Indians had the longest average working week among the ten largest economies in the world. Only Qatar, Congo, Lesotho, Bhutan, Gambia and the United Arab Emirates have higher average working hours than India, which comes seventh in the world. However, those countries have lower productivity. Obviously, productivity problems persist despite already long working weeks. On the other hand, many other countries like Norway, Finland, Switzerland etc. which have shorter working hours have achieved higher labour productivity.
