Many government employees fear they might die from overwork

Japan Press Weekly

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

Many government employees fear they might die from overwork

In Japan, many government employees fear that they might die from overwork (karoshi) due to long hours of forced overtime work, according to a recent labor union survey.

On July 16, a joint struggle organization of 22 government workers’ unions representing about 10,000 members released the findings of the survey it conducted in March, in which about 4,600 out of 45,000 government workers responded to questions.

In the survey, 495 respondents (9.3 percent) said they work more than 80 hours overtime a month, which is considered as the borderline risk of karoshi.

Taking this rate of risk of karoshi into account, it is estimated that more than 4,100 government employees are faced with a borderline risk of karoshi, their average number of overtime hours being 37.7 a month.

The survey shows that there is a tendency that younger workers are forced to work longer hours. Out of respondents in their 30s and 40s, about 40 percent said they have no chance to have dinner at home on weekdays at all.

Nearly 70 percent of respondents said they are not paid fully for their overtime work. It is estimated that government employees are entitled to receive 11.2 billion yen in back pay.

The joint struggle organization of government employees’ unions pointed out that the main cause of forced overtime is a shortage of employees. It says that 1,900 additional workers need to be added to the workforce. - Akahata, July 17, 2008