Zenroren calls on government to secure jobs

Japan Press Weekly

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

Zenroren calls on government to secure jobs

Representatives of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) visited the Cabinet Office and submitted a statement calling on Prime Minister Aso Taro to secure employment as part of urgent economic measures.

The statement submitted by Zenroren President Oguro Sakuji to a Cabinet Office official pointed out that major corporations should not force contingent workers and medium- and small-sized businesses to pay for what the major corporations have lost in the on-going financial crisis even though it was caused by money games that they themselves took part in.

It also stressed that the government is accountable for destroying safety nets by deregulating labor-related laws and adversary revising social security programs.

Zenroren in the statement urged the government to direct major companies to halt plans to dismiss temporary and fixed-term contract workers.

It also requested that the government use six trillion yen reserved for employment insurance payments to support unemployed people and to help them find new jobs as well as to create new job opportunities.

As part of measures to increase domestic demand, it called on the government to drastically revise the Worker Dispatch Law, increase the minimum hourly wage to at least 1,000 yen, eliminate long working hours, and improve social security services. - Akahata, December 6, 2008