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

1,200 young people rally calling for decent jobs and decent wages

Over 1,200 young people from around the country held a large rally on November 13 in Tokyo, calling for work and decent wages.

The rally, called for by the Democratic Youth League of Japan (DYLJ), the Metropolitan Young Workers' Union, and other youth groups demanding jobs, adopted an appeal calling for more jobs for young people by ending the present system of excessively long hours of work and unpaid overtime work.

Himei Jiro, DYLJ chair, called on participants to work to change the society so that the human dignity of workers is respected in places of work.

A systems engineer from Osaka talked about how he used to work 16 hours a day on average, fell ill two years later, and has now become an activist trying to make worker rights known to young people.

A temporary worker whose job is setting up stages for concerts and other events said he is paid 1,000 yen per hour but sometimes has to work 20 hours almost non-stop. He said that he wants to establish a union to urge the company to pay overtime wages.

Discussions took place in five groups. After the rally, the participants walked in a demonstration march in the streets of Shibuya. -- Akahata, November 14, 2005