Power company workers get back pay for overtime work

Chugoku Electric Power Co. Inc. announced on January 21 that it will pay about 138 million yen to 1,188 workers in back pay for overtime work.

Requested by the union, the company in November 2003 started examining the working hours of 9,153 employees in the 7 months up to last October and discovered that some of the workers had reported less hours than they had actuary worked.

Interrogations of the Japanese Communist Party Dietmembers as well as workers' and their family members' courageous accusations paved the way for the elimination of unpaid overtime work. Their efforts forced the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry to issue a directive to protect workers from working overtime without pay. (end)