Effort of Hitachi workers and JCP bear fruit to end unpaid overtime

At Hitachi Ltd., a Japanese multinational electronics maker, where employees are forced into unpaid overtime work, the struggle of workers and the Japanese Communist Party to end this malpractice is producing some results.

In November 2001, the local Labor Standards Inspection Office carried out inspections of the company. At Hitachi's Mito office in Ibaraki Prefecture, a rule began in January that requires workers who leave the office after 10 p.m. to record the time of their departure. In the past, the time was not recorded because overtime hours worked exceeding 30 hours were not counted as overtime.

In 1998, Hitachi introduced a "discretionary" work program called "E-work" which is applied to all engineers and section chiefs, accounting for 30 percent of the employees at the Hitachi Mito office. Only 30 hours of overtime work is paid under this system. Overtime work after 30 hours is not paid. And what is worse, they will be excluded from the "E-work" program, which will bar them from being promoted.

Hitachi Ltd. does not use time recorders at workplaces. Employees report on their own for overtime payment, and they actually have to work more than 30 hours due to the heavy work load.

In April 2001, the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry issued a circular instructing local labor standards inspection offices to work to eliminate unpaid overtime.

But at Hitachi work without pay was left as it was.

In October 2001, JCP Ozawa Kazuaki took up Hitachi's case in parliament, and Labor Standards Bureau Director Hibi Toru promised Ozawa to take necessary steps. In November, Hitachi workers and the JCP made representations to the local labor standards inspection office. The LSIO immediately inspected Hitachi and instructed the company to correct the situation.

The ministry circular is just a starting point. There is a lot to be done before the circular is effectively put into practice.

In Hitachi's design department, designers have to make a budget so that costs for a new product be slashed to a minimum. The "E-work" program adds to the difficulty, and it used to be impossible to budget for overtime work. An employee said, "A major problem lies in the production system which makes workers excessively conscious about cost and competition." (end)