madurai the announcement by minister for labour and employment c v ganesan in the assembly that an amendment would be made to give employees of shops commercial establishments and industries to sit and work the right to sit would bring dignity to more than 90 of the states workforcemanaging trustee of justice shivaraj patil foundation s selva gomathi who has been crusading for the cause for more than a decade said that this was something that would ensure dignity in the workplaces for all i work with garment workers who usually have family members working in shops they used to express their concern about the problems being faced by those working in shops who had to stand continuously for more than eight hours she said the right to sit movement in kerala has been an inspirationwhile the kerala government made the amendment to the labour act to give workers the right to sit three years ago the tamil nadu government did not take it up many campaigns were organised demanding the same during important days such as march 8 for the current assembly election the workers had submitted a memorandum in which one of the demands was the right to sit workers mostly women sent just more than 5000 postcards to chief minister m k stalin after he assumed charge on may 7 and now this has borne fruit she saidkarpagam who works in a fancy store in anna nagar says that there are five women in the shop and they look forward to their recess time to go to the toilet the only place where they can sit except during lunch breaks we are told that we will have to keep standing and it is harrowing when we have our periods she saidgomathy said that during their campaign they had also spoken to male workers who had to stand continuously during work hours standing wearing tight clothes affected them physically and mentally and their family relationships suffered women developed varicose veins on their legs due to the long hours of standing