 Tokyo's power company to pay 1.4 billion yen for unpaid overwork Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) announced on November 18 that the company will pay a total of 1.4 billion yen to 2,800 workers for unpaid overtime work over the past two years. The payment will cover almost 90 percent of TEPCO's 3,200 head office workers. The company, with a total of 36,000 employees, is carrying out investigations into the matter concerning workplaces other than the head office. The situation surfaced when some TEPCO workers appealed to TEPCO's union to address the issue of unpaid overtime work. At the TEPCO shareholders meeting in June, a holder urged the company to investigate into this problem and take necessary steps. In April, House of Councilors member Koike Akira (JCP), TEPCO workers, and other electric power company workers requested the Tokyo Labor Relations Commission to take steps to get TEPCO's unpaid overwork eradicated. Koike commented, "This case exposed how the illegal act of unpaid overtime work has been prevalent at this major company. Workers' efforts to expose such illegal practices are essential. We will struggle to establish regulations to eliminate unpaid overtime work." (end) |