IT Professional Protesting For Work Life Balance
While protesting unsustainable work conditions like 90-hour workweeks and unpaid long hours, IT workers in Karnataka burned posters of Narayana Murthy and S N Subrahmanyan.
On March 9, hundreds of tech workers gathered at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park with the demand for a healthy work-life balance.
The IT professionals are facing several health issues owing to overwork leading to intensified frustrations further having clashes with police when permission to burn posters was denied.
The Karnataka State IT/ITeS Employees’ Union (KITU) organized this event holding red flags and placards bearing messages such as ‘We are not your slaves’ and ‘A healthy work-life balance is every employee’s right,’.
Moving ahead the protesting workers demanded legal protection against after-hours work demands.
Demands For Strict Enforcement of Daily Working Hours
It’s not new as this issue has already gained legal recognition in countries such as Australia, France, and Spain.
Besides this protest, the union has demanded strict enforcement of daily working hour limits.
They are demanding the removal of the IT sector’s exemption from the Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, and action against widespread labor law violations in the industry.
Besides this, Aswin KITU member and IT worker pointed out the informal pressures employees face when they choose not to respond to work-related calls or messages outside office hours during this protest.
Further adding, “Work doesn’t end when we log off—there’s always an expectation to be available. If you don’t respond to messages after hours, you risk being seen as uncooperative or less committed. This constant pressure takes a toll on our mental health and personal lives.”
Another union member, Ram stated “If employees do not unite, even the best laws will remain unenforced,” while stressing the importance of collective worker action, noting that legal measures alone would not be enough.
The culture of long working hours disproportionately affects women in the IT industry, many of whom are forced to leave their jobs due to unsustainable work-life expectations, pointed out by the KITU Vice-President Rashmi Choudhary.
Moving ahead, referring to recent remarks by Infosys founder Narayana Murthy and L&T’s SN Subrahmanyan, both of whom had suggested that Indian employees must work longer hours to boost productivity, Rashmi said,
“We already work 14-16 hours a day, and then return home to unpaid labour. When corporate leaders advocate for 70-hour workweeks, it’s a clear signal of what they intend to normalise. If the government doesn’t intervene, this will become our reality.”
The Bengaluru police prevented the protestors when they tried to burn the effigies of Narayana Murthy and SN Subrahmanyan as a symbolic act of dissent.
Further leading to a mild altercation between the union members and the authorities.
They had minutes of intense sloganeering and heated exchanges after that the union convinced the police that burning the placards was a symbolic protest, and well within their democratic rights.
The KITU General Secretary Suhas Adiga condemned the toxic work culture in the IT sector, calling for immediate government intervention while continuing the protest.
