JCP lawmakers ask NEC to reconsider plant closing

A group of Japanese Communist Party members of parliament visited the NEC
Yamagata plant on October 14 and 15 and demanded that the NEC plan to close
down the plant be reconsidered.

The Yamagata plant is one of the targets of plant closing to be carried
out in March 2002 as part of a major corporate restructuring scheme by NEC,
a leading Japanese high-tech maker. The plan includes a 4,000 employee job
cut and will adversely affect small- and medium-sized suppliers for the NEC
plant.

Three JCP House of Representatives members, including Omori Takeshi
interviewed the director of the NEC Yamagata plant in Yamagata City. They
also listened to smaller subcontractors in Tsuruoka City who are having
extraordinarily hard times trying to get over the difficulty arising from
the current economic recession.

In the meeting, Aoyama Hiroshi, director of the NEC Yamagata plant,
insisted that moving production to foreign countries is necessary as the
company has to hold down costs as low as possible to maintain its
competitiveness in the era of globalization.

Omori in response said, "Moving production abroad has contributed to
slowing down the economy, leading to demand contraction. This does not help
Japan's manufacturers."

He also suggested that the NEC group should seek ways to solve the
problem of employment without plants losings. "We are asking corporations to
fulfill their social responsibility," he added. (end)