By
Social networks and even the official press have dealt with the controversy profusely, which began
Shortly after, on
In response,
Under Chinese law, employees must work eight hours a day with a maximum of 36 hours of overtime each month, which puts the legal limit at about 196 hours per month.
"If we count 11 hours of work each day, the monthly total would rise to 264, 35 percent more than the legal limit.
In a statement, the company denied that it needs these hours and said these are "false rumors" driven by a worker who was fired for "repeatedly posting malicious and extreme comments" on social networks.
Although the two deaths have occurred within
The origin of "996" has its roots in the late '90s and early 2000s, when young employees of emerging technology companies "felt they were entrepreneurs," Qiu said, so "they worked tirelessly to achieve considerable financial benefits in a couple of years from now."
However, over time, the now-tech giants became "much bigger, more exploitative, and even despotic," denying employees the dream of being as wealthy as their bosses.
Far from trying to hide it, some of the great leaders of the technology sector defend the "996": the billionaire founder of e-commerce giant
"If you join
Ma's statements came shortly after the slogan of the collaborative platform for programmers GitHub went viral on Facebook.
"If you keep doing '996' schedules, you will end up in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit)," it wrote, accumulating more than 255,000 likes.
It not only criticizes businessmen who defend the decision to impose the "996" but also the founder of JD - main rival of
Asked whether there is an alternative scenario possible in which technology companies put aside the endless schedules but continue to grow,
"But it is less and less likely due to the resistance on the part of the workers, the pressure of public opinion and the interventions of the government," Qiu said.
On Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, many users recalled in recent weeks the series of suicides between 2010 and 2012 in factories of Taiwanese company
Some users asked why "996" is considered normal, others asked to reinforce labor legislation because "if not, companies will not be afraid of workers," and there are also those who support these schedules: "If you don't like it, change jobs. Why did
The official press, heavily controlled by
The stance of state media and the permissiveness of censors, according to
"Allowing these two tragic deaths to be widely debated is a way to embarrass
Now, the other side of the coin is that the government, which tends to relax control over compliance with labor laws when the economy is not doing well, will have to reinforce that control "at least temporarily."
"It remains to be seen to what extent and for how long," Qiu said. EFE
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