Tata Steel extends to 12-hour shifts in Jamshedpur plant from normal 8 hours duty
Tata Steel’s Jamshedpur plant, which pioneered an eight-hour shift for workers in the country, will switch to an extended 12-hour schedule later this month to contain the spread of Covid-19.
Earlier in the month of April this year, the Union government announced that it is considering a change in a 1948 law to allow longer shifts in factories as it works out ways to help factories cope with fewer workers and high demand.
Tata Steel has got approval from the Jharkhand government on Monday, 17 August 2020, allowing the change which requires special exemption under labour law.
The company said the proposed realignment would minimize the number of people who would enter and or exit the factory at any given point of time and also restrict large congregations on the shop floor.
In view of the situation because of the Covid-19 outbreak we had approached the Jharkhand government to allow a 12-hour shift operation (from the existing eight hours). The primary objective of the request was to reduce the footfall of employees on the shop floor and also reduce the number of days of exposure of an employee to an outside home environment. The Jharkhand government has now exempted Tata Steel from various provisions relating to weekly hours, daily hours, intervals for rest under the Factories Act 1948,” said Tata Steel’s spokesperson.
According to the Jharkhand notification, an adult worker will be allowed to work in a factory at Tata Steel, Jamshedpur, for up to 12 hours in a day and 72 hours in any week, the spokesperson added.
Incidentally, the existing three-shift roster has employees working between 6 am and 2 pm, between 2 pm and 10 pm, and then between 10 pm and 6 am.
