Reverse Working Hour: The Urban Spring of May

Cities throughout the world are facing the challenge of creating more – and decent – jobs. Cities and towns are not only places to live but also to work, it’s the interface between labour and urbanisation.

Workers’ protests have often taken place in urban environments. May 1st, for example, has an urban origin — to commemorate the Haymarket affair, which occurred in Chicago in May 1886.

Moving forward to 2010, the Arab Spring was also triggered by an urban protest that was closely related to employment deficits. Labour Day is an opportunity to remember its urban origins and to focus on the urban aspects and opportunities of labour anew.

At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, demand for workforce and longer working hours increased. Companies started to maximise the output of their factories and running them 24×7 was the key.

Even today, to make things more efficient, people have to work more with 10-16 hour days being the norm. Robert Owen turned things around by coining the phrase ‘Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest.’ This was fine till the time it was effectively running factories.

Perhaps half of our cities’ problems would have been solved if they were allowed to practise ‘Eight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours rest’ or 30 to 40 hours of work a week. But many pointed out that the eight-hour model was meant for men who had wives taking care of affairs at home.

However, a recent research in Sweden suggests that in an eight-hour day, the average worker is only productive for 2 hours and 53 minutes. The study broke down the activities during an eight-hour work day from checking social media, searching for new jobs, taking smoke breaks and making phone calls. At the end of it all, majority of the time spent in office was found to be unproductive and only four hours of productivity are left.

In a six-hour workday, improved productivity and better work life balance was observed.

Many argued that the eight-hour workday isn’t set in stone, and there are ways to work around it given our lifestyle. But is this timeframe for work still needed in the present day?

Perhaps during COVID-19 lockdown, work from home broke the eight-hour cycle and opened up debates across the globe about work life balance.

A large number of urban workers lack elements of social protection and/or respect to their rights. Again, who cares about those rights in cities and towns, when majority of employers treat their employees as bonded labourer or slave. Then, expecting the principle of eight-hour work seems a joke than reality.

Therefore, May Day needs to be remembered every day. The local government is the first layer of government that deals with labour market. The municipal bodies need to be proactive in ensuring a work life balance with golden eight-hour principle. No human being should be engaged above 30 to 40 hours of work per week, which is hardly the case in capitalist-driven society. The result – people work without any financial or social benefit for over 10 hours a day and holiday is just for the name.

The May 1st celebrations are by and large urban gatherings. They provide a great opportunity to discuss labour and urbanisation. While more and better jobs are fundamental for the development of urban areas, urban areas are at the same time instrumental for work-related participatory movements more than ever. Labour is fragmented, and one should not underestimate the possibilities that urban areas hold for different types of workers and other actors to get together.

The idea of an ‘Urban Spring’ is one of transformational dialogue and participation to flourish. The work life balance must get a push in urban planning, perhaps a weekend culture is the necessity for booming urbanisation. That’s what is reverse working hour, which means instead of 40-hour weekly work plan, there should be plan for entertainment by reducing work hours to 30 hours a week.

Odisha has been ranked 3rd happiest state in India among large states, jumping from 16th last year, as per HappyPlus survey. According to the state, Odisha’s effective implementation of people-centric policies is making people happy. The overall ranking is based on parameters like freedom of choice, perception of corruption, prosperity per capita net state domestic product, consumer price index, literacy rate, healthy life expectancy at birth, multidimensional poverty index and health index.

In Odisha, per capita income is Rs 1,50,676, that is, an income of Rs 12,556 per month. On an average, a person works ten hours a day and is happy. It’s like slavery of exploration by the pay master. At least the government should give more holidays to employees to spend time with families and enjoy daylight, even with less income. The working class hardly enjoys daylight.

The world is debating how much time people will get access to daylight. Odisha could set an example in India by opening office working hours early and closing by early afternoon. So close business hours by 7 pm with Friday extended up to midnight. Then on Saturday and Sunday open late and close by 5 pm. This will add value to quality of life in working class in both formal as well as informal sectors.

We have a grassroot labour leader as Mayor of Cuttack. Hope leaders in municipal bodies deliver it.