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

Former JHPC workers win overtime pay

Workers at the former Japan Highway Public Corporation (JHPC) on October 14 received a total of about 845 million yen in back pay for overtime work. A former JHPC official reported this to Japanese Communist Party House of Councilors member Nihi Sohei.

The money was paid to about 4,600 workers, almost all former JHPC employees, for overtime work in February and March this year. The average payment was 180,000 yen.

After Nihi brought the issue of unpaid overtime work to the Diet in March, the Labor Standards Inspection Office instructed the JHPC to correct the working conditions.

At the March 18 Upper House Committee meeting on Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, Nihi revealed the JHPC's systematic falsification of records of employees' overtime work. He showed a photo that shows a JHPC head office with lights on after 12 a.m. and introduced a letter from a JHPC worker saying, "If I continue to work like this, I will die."

A former JHPC employee said, "After Nihi's Diet deliberation, the atmosphere at the JHPC office totally changed. While workers regarded unpaid overtime work as routine before, they see it as an illegal practice now. I can count my blessings." -- Akahata, October 15, 2005