Laid-off contingent workers urge Keidanren Chair to stop dismissals

Japan Press Weekly

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

Laid-off contingent workers urge Keidanren Chair to stop dismissals

Contingent workers who were laid off recently by major corporations staged a protest near a Tokyo hotel where the business leaders were attending a New Year party. They sought to submit an open letter to the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) Chairman Mitarai Fujio calling on corporations to stop the dismissal of contingent workers.

Participants in the protest included temporary and fixed-term contract workers, who were dismissed from large manufacturers, including Isuzu Motors Ltd., Nissan Diesel Motor Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp., Hino Motors, Ltd., and Oita Canon Inc. They have recently established unions in order to struggle against their dismissals.

In the open letter, they asked Mitarai, who is also the president of Canon Inc., to urge business leaders to stop dismissals, make efforts to maintain jobs, stop forcing workers to leave company dormitories, contribute to supporting laid-off workers' living and reemployment efforts, and agree on a drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law.

A Nippon Keidanren official said he could not receive the open letter because the workers showed up without making an appointment.

Workers said to the official, "Tens of thousands of workers have been thrown out. It is a matter of life or death."

- Akahata, January 7, 2009