'Diary' campaign helps electric workers to end unpaid overtime

A workers' group in an electronics manufacturer affiliated to major maker Oki Electric Industry Co. Ltd. had the company end the practice of overtime without pay. It was the "diary" campaign that helped them, following the model of Mitsubishi Electric workers' struggle.

Oki Erfolg Co. Ltd. is a company established in Fukushima City in 1998 through a spin-off from Tohoku Oki Electric. In 1999, the company carried out a 22-percent wage cut on average.

The company told its workers not to record end-of-shift times on recorders to give the appearance that all workers leave on time. Combined with the introduction of a performance-based wage system, this system caused unpaid overtime to prevail throughout workshops.

On reading Akahata dated December 7, 2001, a worker (Mr. A) learned of the Mitsubishi Electric workers' struggle to get rid of unpaid overtime by keeping a "diary." Calling on other workers to join the campaign, Mr. A began to keep diary entries of overtime. The result showed that he worked 60 hours without pay, which was equivalent to 80,000 yen (690 dollars) a month.

In March, Mr. A applied to the Fukushima Labor Standards Inspection Office for remedy. The Office gave the company instructions based on the Health, Welfare, and Labor Ministry's circular (April 2001) concerning overtime.

In a notice on April 11, the company promised to require workers to punch their leaving time on recorders and to pay overtime for 15 minutes as a unit, which is applicable retroactively to October 2001.

Mr. A said, "In some workshops, workers are told to punch the time card and then work overtime. We won't stop keeping diaries." (end)