 Struggle continues to eliminate discrimination against workers based on ideology Being indignant at Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries Co. (IHI)'s anti-communist discrimination against workers, Japanese Communist Party members and their supporters at IHI are increasing their campaign to force IHI to implement the promise it made in the out-of-the-court settlement to end discriminatory practices. Eight IHI workers at Tanashi and Mizuho factories in Tokyo in March 2000 sued IHI for discriminating against JCP members and sympathizers for more than 40 years. Later, IHI's list of names of workers to be discriminated against in its Zero Communist (ZC) plan was revealed. This eventually led the company to agree to reach an out-of-the-court settlement with these workers. Admitting that it had the "ZC plan," IHI for the first time officially apologized to the workers for the discrimination against them in the March 2004 out-of-the-court dealing and promised to end its anti-communist labor policy and to correct wages discrimination. IHI also exchanged a 14-point memorandum with the plaintiffs that requires the company and employees to not take any discriminatory actions. The agreement prohibits management from: (1) discriminating against woman workers by using them only for supplementary jobs at lower wages with fewer chances for promotion than male workers; (2) discriminating against employees through positioning, qualifying, and assessing wages according to one's degree of loyalty to company policy, political party (i.e., the JCP) affiliation, and in the company union's activities, and in informal labor management groups; (3) relocating workers to isolated places of work, giving them little work to do without their consent and for no reason. Prior to the agreement, anti-communist attacks and discrimination had been rampant at IHI. Based on the "ZC plan", IHI relocated communists to isolated rooms or outdoor work. They were not allowed to attend year-end parties and wedding ceremonies. Employed at a shipyard that builds one million-ton tankers, veteran welders and other workers with political convictions were obliged to cut grass. Some of them have quit IHI, saying sadly, "I could no longer endure this mistreatment." In 1986, as many as 7,000 workers were dismissed, eventually causing technological decline and low morale at IHI. The JCP IHI Committee in October 2004 sent an open letter to the IHI president in protest against the company's personnel cut. It called for respecting personnel and utilizing new technology as the only way for IHI to overcome the slump. The JCP Committee also mailed a copy of the open letter to all former IHI employees, including those who had been in managerial positions. Some who had had administrative posts wrote replies, encouraging the JCP efforts. Recently, a secret "D plan", aimed at establishing a subsidiary of the IHI design section with the aim of pushing a further personnel cut and a 30 percent wage cut, was reportedly retracted. Last autumn, the IHI Liaison Committee for Recovery of Human Rights was established with 155 IHI workers, including their OBs, participating. They are determined to work with all employees to remake the workshops to be worthy of boasting of IHI as a work site without discrimination. (end) |