In a new development (which had me and quite a few others pleasantly surprised), the European court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled that workers without a fixed office space (mobile workers) should be able to charge for the time they spend travelling. This they say is to protect the health and safety of workers according to the European Union’s working time directive.
Ask any Mumbaikar about the biggest difficulty they face in this huge metropolis and they’ll promptly reply that it’s dealing with the traffic and commuting from one place to another. The massive number of people the city holds is one of the main reasons for travel being such a headache. And as a working professional who has to get to work every day, I know just how painful that journey is.
For one, you’ve always got to start way ahead of your schedule because you never know which signal has broken down, which road is under repair or which train is delayed or cancelled.
And trust me, reaching to work on time, every freaking day is a little achievement that’s worth celebrating. In fact I have colleagues who actually do a little dance on days when they get a taxi without a battle or don’t have to fight, pinch or push anyone on their way to work. So given this scenario, if you were to tell this lot that the time taken to travel from and to work is all paid for, there will be nothing but squeals of joy.
Many Mumbaikars start their day hours before their actual office timings and take at least two hours for a one way commute. Taxing just to think about it, right?
In fact, a very close friend and colleague travels from Ambernath to our office in Lower Parel which amounts to a two and a half hour-commute considering a 20-minute ride from her home in Ambernath to the station, a one and a half-hour train ride and a 20-minute cab ride to office.
If that’s not enough, there are other mobile employees who’ve got to travel around town from one place to another all in the blistering heat of Mumbai. Take for instance sales representatives, electricians, plumbers, computer engineers and all those others who promise service right at your door step.
Don’t you think this makes complete sense for an employee who ends up spending much more than the stipulated nine hours of his/her day for work considering the travels to reach his different destinations?
It would also be a great idea to make the same rule for employees with a permanent work space because let’s face it; travel in any metropolitan city, be it in India or Europe is kind of a hassle.
And if we do the math, there’s a large chunk of time that people spend simply on commute everyday when they could have been doing so much more with their lives. And even if we chose to ignore these, the health hassles are way too much to be able to disregard.
For me, taking up a job at a place that’s easily accessible has always been important because I am hardly willing to spend my life on the road, in ceaseless traffic and ever-increasing pollution. But unfortunately, not everyone has that option.
That’s why, if there is some Indian authority who was taking note of this awesome new European rule for employees, we’d request them to turn your attention to the plight of working class Indians especially in the metropolitan cities who have to spend hours commuting to work every single day. Wouldn’t we just love being paid for those extra hours of travel? #JustSaying
Image courtesy: BCCL
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