Young workers call for eradication of unpaid overtime work

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Young workers call for eradication of unpaid overtime work

Temporary workers of the Young Contingent Workers' Union launched a campaign to eradicate labor practices violating the Labor Standards Law.

On February 24, the first day of the campaign, about 30 union members staged a demonstration in front of the major restaurant chain "Sukiya" restaurant in Shibuya, a district popular with young people in Tokyo.

"Let's join the union to recover unpaid overtime wages; Part-timers can take paid holidays," they shouted to young passers-by.

A 21-year-old man who works at another "Sukiya" restaurant and who became a union member last October took part in this action. He said, "I was surprised that the union's activities made the restaurant chain pay us the overtime in back pay in compliance with the law. Now I know how important struggling for workers' rights is."

A 21-year-old woman who was listening to the union members' protest said, "I have just come to realize that when we work more than eight hours a day, we are entitled to get normal hourly wages plus extra as overtime pay. Many say 'there is no choice,' but in their heart they want to be treated fairly."

Young Contingent Workers' Union Secretary General Kawazoe Makoto said, "Everybody is forced to work under harsh working conditions. Only the union can negotiate with the management under the protection of law. We want to make the union widely known to young people"

Last November, six part-timers working for "Sukiya" established the Young Contingent Workers' Union-affiliated Sukiya Union. The restaurant chain paid 10,000 part-timers in all its restaurants the unpaid extra wages for overtime from last November, but still refuses to pay such wages retroactively.
- Akahata, February 25, 2007