 NTT workers discuss ways to resist corporate restructuring Information and communication giant NTT in March recorded 1.7 trillion yen in current profits and 710 billion yen in net profits, next only to Toyota. NTT, however, is carrying out corporate restructuring by dismissing workers on a large scale. About 200 NTT group workers, including those from NTT East Japan, NTT West Japan, regional subsidiaries, and temporary workers had a meeting on June 11-12 in Kyoto City to increase the struggle to defend jobs, improve working conditions, and change workplaces for the better. A reporter said that 17 workers out of 50, who brought their cases to court against being transferred afar for refusing the restructuring order as a warning to others, were reinstated to their former positions. In a bid to pursue the performance-based wage system to the extreme in order to downsize the total wage cost, NTT is urging workers to agree to cuts in corporate pensions they are to receive. It was reported that workers' objections are obstructing NTT from implementing official procedures with the Health, Welfare, and Labor Ministry. A participant said that a worker who had refused to accept the restructuring plan was ordered to take a long-term training away from home and died of a heart failure. The reporter added that a district court confirmed the case to be karoshi (death from overwork), and that a local newspaper ran an editorial stating that the case is a warning of the employer's abuse of power in transferring workers. Akahata June 14, 2005 |