JCP is opposed to adverse revision of labor laws that panel proposed: Ichida

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JCP is opposed to adverse revision of labor laws that panel proposed: Ichida

Commenting on the labor ministry advisory panel report, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi who is in charge of the JCP task force for blocking an adverse revision of labor laws, on December 27 said as follows:

The panel report proposed the introduction of a white-collar exemption system that will remove working hour regulations and overtime pay for white-collar workers who satisfy certain requirements.

This new system will further increase Japan's excessively long working hours that have caused deaths and suicides from overwork, contrary to the notion of a "free working style not bound by time" propagated by the government and business circles.

It is also a grave problem for the panel to propose a new system in which employers can unilaterally worsen working conditions by adversely revising workplace regulations.

The JCP will firmly oppose the enactment of the labor laws that the panel proposed.

The panel submitted the report, ignoring the strong opposition of labor representatives in direct violation of the rule that requires the body to adjust for different opinions among the public, labor and management.

It is a matter of course that the panel put off the proposal for a new system that enables employers to dismiss workers in return for monetary compensation even if courts rule the dismissal as unfair.

Succumbing to business circles' demands, however, the panel failed to propose effective measures to improve working conditions of non-regular employment such as imposing regulations on the short-term repeated employment contracts and providing part-timers with equal treatment, which are also socially called for.

In order to adopt a labor contract law that represents the workers' interests, discussions on the issue must be continued in a more open manner.

The JCP will prevent the business circles and the government from destroying the eight-hour day system that was established as a major principle of modern society through workers' struggles, oppose the major adverse revision of labor laws, and make every effort to bring about a decent way of working coupled with the struggles to eradicate the two illegal corporate practices of unpaid overtime and disguised contract work.
- Akahata, December 28, 2006