 Non-stop LC TV production depends on only two shifts At Sharp Corporation's Kameyama Plant in Mie Prefecture, production of liquid crystal display (LCD) television sets depends on two shifts in which workers are forced to work 12 hours to keep the plant operating day and night. The August 22 issue of Sunday Akahata reported on how the Sharp Kameyama plant's "vertically integrated production process" for LCD television, the world's first, has operated since it started in January. Three out of every four jobs at the Kameyama Plant are staffed by a company that has a business contract with Sharp. Work contracts are renewed every two months. Since they are forced to work a twelve-hour day on two shifts and a four-day week, they often have to work on Saturdays and Sundays. Anticipating that demand will rise because many people may want to watch the Summer Olympic Games on LCD television, the company ordered the workers to work 2.5 hours of overtime every day. Day-shift workers ride on a contracting company's commuter bus for about an hour to a dormitory near the Bay of Ise. Some buy box lunches at a nearby convenience store for supper after they worked to produce such high-tech LCD TVs or DVDs. While in the plant, workers have to remain standing all the time in dustproof gear. Their work is so exhausting that many young workers quit after a month on the job. Prefecture and city expend 13.5 billion yen in tax money To develop the infrastructure for the manufacturer of new high-tech electronics products for export, Kameyama City disburses 4.5 billion yen and Mie Prefecture 9 billion yen in tax money. Sharp Corporation plans to double its LCD TV production to 3 million units in 2004 from the 1.5 million in FY 2003. The maker, however, has only 800 full-time workers. About 2,280 contingency workers are supplied by a contracting company. It falls far below the prefecture and the city plans to create 12,000 jobs. A 45-year-old worker who quit after a month in procurement of parts at a Sharp factory said that he was paid only 180,00 yen without a commutation allowance or paid holidays. Skills may not be carried over The latest annual report of the Economy, Trade, and Industry Ministry includes the results of a survey of firms regarding how the increasing use of contingent workers and contract workers affect companies' production skills. Though 55.2 percent of respondents said that hiring contingent workers helps to cut costs and increase competitiveness, 52.8 percent expresses concern about quality control and the carry-over of production skills. Japanese Communist Party Kameyama City assembly member Hattori Koki, who is the vice-chair of the assembly's special committee on municipal revitalization said, "Local municipalities, the central government, and large corporations must rethink their treatment of young workers as disposable. Local municipality funding is ultimately used only to help large corporations earn more profits." (end) |