DYLJ calls on labor ministry to secure jobs for youth

Representatives of the Democratic Youth League of Japan on November 5
visited the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry and called on the government
for measures to secure decent and rewarding jobs for young people.
The petition was based on what the DYLJ learned from the counseling it
held in October throughout the country to help young people solve their
job-related problems.

Sakai Nozomi, DYLJ chair, and other members requested that the ministry
promote work-sharing as a way to increase employment and regulate corporate
restructuring. This will help stop the increase in the number of workers out
of work, they said.

The representatives said it is important for the government to make
corporations comply with the Labor Standards Law and increase efforts to
make labor rights known to young workers. They also requested the government
to have corporations end discrimination based on applicants' sex and school
they studied when employing workers.

DYLJ representatives showed ministry officials a large German government
poster calling for the creation of 100,000 jobs for youth. The officials
said they had never seen it.

The petitioners asked the ministry to correct the present condition in
which young workers are almost unable to exercise their rights as workers.
The ministry only said that corporate restructuring is something that should
be settled between management and labor. (end)