147 firms in Aichi pay 520 million yen in back pay

In the central Japanese prefecture of Aichi, the Labor Bureau has recently announced that 147 corporations paid 6,124 workers about 520 million yen (4.2 million dollars) for their overtime work (from April 2001 to September 2002) in back pay.

Akahata of December 1 reported that this is another great victory made possible by a campaign by the Aichi Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions (Aichi-roren) and Japanese Communist Party branches consistently denouncing the companies for imposing overtime work on workers without payment.

Aichi's 14 Labor Standards Inspection Offices conducted inspections based on workers' complaints, and ordered those firms, which were found to be forcing their workers to work overtime without wages, to pay unpaid wages.

The average amount each company paid in back pay was 3.55 million yen (about 29,000 dollars). Each worker received on average 85,000 yen (about 690 dollars). The largest amount paid was a car-parts manufacturer's 59 million yen (about 480,000 dollars) to 91 workers. (end)