Maharashtra cabinet gives nod to night shifts for women workers

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis

The state government Wednesday decided to make several amendments to the Factories Act, 1948, clearing the decks for women employees to work in night shifts. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced the cabinet decision at a media interaction.

“While there were objections raised as to why women were being discriminated from not allowing night shift, the onus to ensure security would be mandatory for the institutions under the Act,” Fadnavis said. Currently, under the Factories Act, women are not permitted to work between 7 pm and 6 am.

Subhash Desai, state industries minister said, “Several labour union leaders and politicians had made this demand, and so we have decided to allow women in factories to work post 7 pm. The companies making women employees work night shifts will have to provide for their security. In sectors such as information technology, women are anyway known to work long hours and night shifts.”

Desai said the state government decided to make these changes as per the guidelines of the Union government, and states such as Rajasthan have already permitted women to work in night shifts.

In a move that will take 14,300 small units across the state out of the purview of the Factories Act, the government also decided to redefine the criteria for factories bound by the legislation. “These small industries are currently employing close to 1.90 lakh workers,” a press statement from the chief minister’s office said.

Currently, all factories that use electricity and employ 10 or more workers or all such factories not running on electricity but employing 20 or more labourers fall under the jurisdiction of the Factories Act. The government has decided to change this criteria for factories running with and without electricity to 20 and 40, respectively.

Further, the government has decided to scrap the mandatory clearance that companies had to secure for making their employees work overtime under the Factories Act and has raised the limit for the number of extra hours that a worker can be permitted. However, the minimum number of days that a worker is required to work to be eligible for paid leave is now being brought down to 90 per year from the current 240.

Fadnavis said, “We have decided to waive this clearance in the interest of workers. Earlier, factories would not take such a clearance but still make employees work overtime without compensating them.”

Source:: Indian Express