Young workers in rally call for decent jobs

   About 3,300 young people took part in a national rally in Tokyo on May 20 calling for the improvement of young workers’ working conditions in order for them to make a decent living.

   “We must have the courage to say what we should say. Now I am sure that our struggles will make a difference. This rally has encouraged me a lot,” said a 20-year-old participant from Hiroshima Prefecture who was dismissed after complaining to his company that his wage, 650 yen per hour, is lower than the minimum wage. He said that he will work with other members of the Hiroshima Youth Union to make the company retract his dismissal.

   In the rally, participants reported on their union struggles that had made companies give up their illegal practice of “disguised contract work”, and pay unpaid overtime wages.

   Yabe Hiroshi, chair of the All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU) branch at Koyo Sealing Techno in Tokushima Prefecture, reported that through collective bargaining his union forced the company to offer direct employment to 53 workers in October and to 16 more workers in the Spring Struggle this year.

   Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo in his speech stressed that the activities of young workers to expose their employers’ illegal practices are “struggles of great significance.”

   Saying that he has been impressed by the recent development of union movements among young workers, Shii stated that an increasing number of young people have come to exercise the constitutional right of workers to organize. “If the majority of young people join in this effort, it will become powerful enough to change the future course of Japan,” he said.

   Shii pointed out that young workers’ severe working conditions are created by the government and business circles that are forcing young workers to become a disposable workforce. “The root cause of this problem lies in the government policies that give priority to major corporations’ demands. Let us change politics to open a bright future for young citizens,” he said.

   Eleven workplace and local group representatives took the platform and reported on their activities. Fukuya Natsumi, a 16-year-old Tokyo Young Contingent Workers’ Union member, said she joined the union after being fired by a restaurant where she worked for a year on the grounds that she had continued to have her hair dyed. Although she had successfully made the restaurant retract her dismissal through collective bargaining, the company agreed on hiring her only on a half-year contract. “They might refuse to renew my contract, but I will never give up,” she said.

   After the rally, participants holding colorful banners and posters marched in a demonstration to Shibuya, a popular district for young people.

Similar rallies took place three times in the past four years, but this time the rally attracted the largest number of participants.

   This event was organized by the organizing committee that includes the Democratic Youth League of Japan and the Tokyo Young Contingent Workers’ Union.                                       - Akahata, May 21, 2007