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

Non-regular employment increasing as a result of deregulation

At the February 7 House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting, Japanese Communist Party representative Sasaki Kensho demanded that the government drastically change its deregulation policy that has caused severe working conditions for non-regular employees.

He pointed out that one in every three workers are contingent workers, including part-timers and temporary workers, mainly at large corporations, citing the example of the liquid crystal display TV manufacturer Sharp Co. Kameyama Factory in Mie Prefecture in which 2,016 out of 3,300 workers are non-regular workers.

According to a Tokyo Labor Bureau survey last December, the major reason that most corporations gave for hiring unstable workers was that they can "cut labor cost" and that it is "easy to adjust the workforce."

Sasaki revealed that contract workers at Koyo Sealing Techno Co., a Toyota-affiliate in Tokushima Prefecture, receive only one-third of the wages of regular workers although they do the same job. An employee under a 3-month contract has had his contract renewed 26 times in 8 years. Short-term contract workers have not received a pay raise for 7 years.

The JCP representative cited another Tokyo Labor Bureau survey showing that in Tokyo, 81.2 percent of temporary staffing agencies and 76.5 percent of companies contracting specific work tasks broke labor laws by leasing workers to construction sites, pretending that they are on contract but only sending non-regular workers whenever a company needs additional workers, or by sending workers through two agencies.

Pointing out that the deregulation of the labor market promoted by the government is the major cause of these mistreatment of workers, Sasaki stated that such deregulation has been encouraged by a government panel on regulatory reform in which many business circle representatives have joined as members.
- Akahata, February 8, 2006