Job seekers and unemployed, unite!
Networking of the unemployed and job seekers is playing an important role
nationally in helping find jobs or solve various problems arising from
joblessness.
The movement is attracting greater attention at a time when the nation's
unemployment rate continues to be 5 percent, the highest ever in Japan. The
prime minister's callous disregard of the pain of unemployment persists.
The "Network of Everyone who Wants a Job" was established in Tokyo in
July 1999 when the number of the unemployed exceeded 3 million. In June
2000, the organization was recognized as an NPO (non-profit organization).
Similar networks have been organized in Hokkaido and Shizuoka prefectures.
The Network's purpose is to advise the unemployed and job seekers, and
help them encourage each other and exchange information.
A 50-year old who lost his job said he had thought of committing a
suicide but changed his mind in the course of phone conversations with a
Network staff member.
The Network's Director Sasaki Hiroshi said, "Workers who lose their job
tend to blame themselves. It is very important for such people to
communicate with each other."
Another aspect of the Network's important task is to petition government
offices.
In the Spring Struggle, it carried out a poll in front of every public
employment security office in Tokyo, and 1,224 responses indicated clearly
that the jobless period is now longer than the year before. The percentage
of those who are without jobs for a period between 6 months to one year rose
from 22 percent to 31 percent, and for a period over one year, rose from 8
to 16 percent. An urgent need is to open the door to job seekers in their
fifties.
Sasaki also warned about the increasing instability in the form of
employment, in which full-time employees are increasingly being replaced by
contingent workers.
In October, the Network will carry out a joint action of jobless people.
They will petition the central government, Tokyo Metropolitan government,
and economic organizations. (end)