 Workers put pressure on company to comply with promise to end discrimination Active and retired workers of Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. (IHI) have established an organization to work to have the company comply with the promises it made in an out-of-court settlement in a lawsuit over in-house discrimination based on ideology. The lawsuit filed by 8 employees of the major heavy machinery maker reached a settlement in March. The company agreed to take measures to prevent discrimination against workers based on ideology and apply the promises it made with the plaintiffs to all employees. On October 13, plaintiff workers, retired workers, lawyers, and their supporters together visited the IHI head office and requested the company to accept the statements of the 104 workers calling for an end to the discrimination against them. The company discriminated against workers related to the Japanese Communist Party for nearly 40 years using its "zero-communist (ZC) list." In the March settlement, IHI listed 14 actions it will not carry out in the future, including discrimination against workers based on their gender, beliefs, political party affiliation, or labor union membership. (end) |