JCP leaders encourage contingent workers on nationwide speaking tours

Japan Press Weekly

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

JCP leaders encourage contingent workers on nationwide speaking tours

On their speaking tours, Japanese Communist Party leaders on April 5 held meetings with contingent workers who are fighting against illegal layoffs.

JCP Chair Shii in Suzuka

On April 5, JCP Chair Shii Kazuo was in Suzuka City, where major manufacturers such as Honda Motors and Sharp have their plants. Shii had a meeting with about 20 people who had been dismissed as temporary and fixed-term contract workers.

A man said that he had faced termination of his employment at the Honda Suzuka plant. Honda used him for three years and 9 months as a temporary worker and hired him as a fixed-term independent contractor on two-month contracts.

Another man said he had worked at various factories around the country, including the Nissan Motor Kyushu plant in Fukuoka, the Toyota Auto Body plant in Aichi, and a plant of a supplier for Sharp Corporation. When he worked at the Sharp Kameyama Plant in Mie, his contract was terminated before it expired.

After listening to participating workers explain about their union struggles, Shii said to the participants, "Your struggles are important because they will help to change the social framework in Japan." He also said that JCP will work with them in every way possible.

JCP Secretariat Head Ichida in Sasebo

JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi in Sasebo City, Nagasaki Prefecture met with five members of the Nagasaki General Workers' Union Sony Nagasaki/World Intec branch affiliated with the Nagasaki Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions, a member of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren).

Twenty workers, who were assigned to Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation and dismissed from their staffing agency World Intec Co,. Ltd. at the end of January, are demanding that World Intec revoke their dismissals and pay them monetary compensation and that Sony Semiconductor Kyushu directly employ them.

Ichida said, "You are waging a just struggle. In order to protect workers' rights, it is necessary to change the society and the very nature of politics. Let's continue to fight together."

- Akahata, April 6, 2009