June 22, 2020

Pushed by the Japan Metal, Manufacturing, Information and Telecommunication Workers' Union (JMITU), a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation has decided to compensate its fixed-term contract workers for their loss of earnings due to the coronavirus pandemic, Akahata reported on June 22.

NTT-West Business Front Co., Ltd. provides ICT-utilizing telecommunication equipment and systems to small- and mid-sized corporate customers. Among 2,400 workers at this company, most sales persons are fixed-term contract workers.

Amid the coronavirus crisis, more and more contract workers at the NTT West subsidiary became anxious about their financial conditions due to business suspensions following the imposition of the state of emergency. This is because of the company’s performance-based wage system for contract workers under which contract workers earn 200,000 yen in basic pay monthly and receive an average performance-based reward of 200,000 yen.

A male contract worker in his 50s said, “Due to the state of emergency, I was unable to deliver any sales between April and May. If I receive permission for my visit from customers, I can visit them. However, I had no opportunity to arrange contacts with them.”

Under the company’s wage system, it takes two months to reflect individual contract workers’ sales performance in their wages. This means that contract workers will receive no performance-based rewards in June because they could not visit their customers in the previous two months. They will be paid only 60% of their basic wage in June as an allowance stipulated in the labor law for absence from work due to the ongoing crisis. Accordingly, their monthly after-tax income will drop to below 100,000 yen.

JMITU in April urged the company to pay contract workers the monthly basic wage in full and performance-based pay based on the average paid in the previous year. One month later, the union received the company offer in which the company accepted the union’s demand for the basic wage. Regarding the performance-based pay, the company offered to pay 50% of last year’s average.

In the collective bargaining session, the company explained that experienced contract workers with special knowledge and technical skills are valuable assets as they can provide ICT-utilizing services to small- and mid-sized corporate customers in accordance with their needs.

JMITU plans to push the company to pay 200,000 yen in performance-based rewards, the average amount of the rewards paid last year, to all contract workers as minimum compensation for loss of earnings due to business suspensions.

Past related article:
> JMITU members urge their employers to secure jobs and wage payments during COVID-19 crisis [May 21, 2020]