Government panel calls for ban on use of temporary workers for day labor

Japan Press Weekly

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

Government panel calls for ban on use of temporary workers for day labor

A Labor Ministry panel on revision of the Worker Dispatch Law on July 28 compiled a report calling for the government to prohibit the use of temporary workers for day labor.

After repeatedly easing regulation on the labor market by amending the Worker Dispatch Law since its enactment in 1985, the report now says that the government should consider strengthening regulation amid increasing calls for the law to be drastically revised.

While supporting the government recognition of temporary labor as “the system to adjust labor supply and demand temporarily on the premise that it should not be a substitute for the full-time work force,” the report claimed that the government should regulate employers as well as protect temporary workers.

It demanded that the government ban the use of temporary workers for 30 days or shorter.

The panel said that employers which illegally used temporary workers should be required to offer them direct employment and that the government should advise such employers to take such action.

It also requested that the government encourage employers to regularly hire temporary workers whom they occasionally use. - Akahata, July 29, 2008