Since then, a debate has raged across the country: Should Chinese IT sector employees work nine am to nine pm, six days a week? 996.ICU’s demand to moderate the 72-hour work week in the Chinese IT sector have a striking affinity with the slogan raised by the early socialist, Robert Owen, “Eight hours work, eight hours leisure, eight hours rest”. AdvertisingJack Ma, the founder and head of the Chinese IT giant, Alibaba has hit back with exhortations — “If you don’t work 996 when you are young, when will you?” Working overtime could be a “huge blessing” for young workers, the billionaire is reported to have said. Till the second half of the 20th century, many critics of capitalism had hoped that technology would liberate humankind from the drudgery of long work hours. But ironically, the pushback to this demand has come from the sectors — and in countries — which are the harbingers of newer forms of technology.

Source: Indian Express April 17, 2019 18:56 UTC