JCP calls for discussion by all parties aimed at solving crisis of employment

Japan Press Weekly

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JCP calls for discussion by all parties aimed at solving crisis of employment

The Japanese Communist Party has called for a meeting of policy heads of all parties in the Diet to discuss ways to solve the current crisis of employment.

JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi announced the proposal at a news conference on December 15.

Referring to the Bank of Japan’s recent survey of business sentiments, which shows a sharp decline in the diffusion index on business sentiments (DI), he said, “The survey reflects the critical outlook of the nation’s economy.”

“The present hardships are caused by so-called ‘casino capitalism’ eroding the real economy and by large corporations’ job cuts for temporary and fixed-term workers at an unprecedented speed in the name of “output adjustment” while refraining from investing,” Ichida said.

He also said that if nothing is done to solve the present crisis, it would fall into a vicious circle of declining consumption, sluggish business sales, and job insecurity.

While opposing corporations’ illegal termination of job contracts and “dismissals of contingent workers” by large corporations, the JCP also believes that all political parties should join forces to urge large corporations not to force dismissed workers out of dormitories they have been living in and to not withdraw job offers to graduating students.

Ichida proposed that both the ruling and opposition parties immediately start consultations within this year. - Akahata, December 16, 2008