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Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

KEPCO workers get 2.3 billion yen in back pay for overtime work

Kansai Electric Power Co. (KEPCO) on June 15 announced that it will pay 2.3 billion yen to workers in back pay for their overtime work.

After inspections by the Labor Standards Inspection Office last September, KEPCO started investigating unpaid overtime work that had been done for two years since October, 2002. It found that about 11,000 workers, or 54 percent of all employees, had been working overtime without pay. The total amount the company will pay them is 2,297 million yen.

KEPCO workers, who won a lawsuit in 1999 calling for an end to the company's discrimination against them based on their political beliefs, have established the Kinki Regional Center for Electric Power Workers' Movement and strove to eliminate unpaid overtime work and to improve employees' working conditions. -- Akahata, June 16, 2005