October 24, 2012
The Supreme Court has recently decided to dismiss an appeal from three union members against the Tokyo High Court ruling which gave approval to their distant transfer by NTT.
Japan’s largest Telephone and Telecommunication group, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), in 2002 launched a downsizing scheme in which workers aged 50 and over were forced to accept early retirement and reemployment by NTT subsidiaries with 30%-wage cuts.
NTT East and NTT West moved workers, who were members of the Telecommunication Industry Workers’ Union (Tsushin-roso) which opposed NTT’s restructuring system, from their original offices to distant offices. The three were ordered to work at offices in Nagoya City, about 180km away from their original offices in Shizuoka City.
This top court decision was the latest and final ruling in a chain of legal battles by the union claiming that NTT’s relocation of workers who protested the restructuring system to distant locations was unjust.
Following the decision, on October 22, Tsushin-roso and the plaintiffs’ group issued a statement.
In the statement, they criticized the top court for abandoning its duty to protect workers’ rights. Recalling the decade-long court struggles across the nation, they expressed their determination to struggle to change their work environment to respect workers’ dignity.
They also vowed to continue their fight against the company which intends to reduce the wages of workers aged 30 and over instead of the current system for dismissing and rehiring workers aged 50 and older.
Japan’s largest Telephone and Telecommunication group, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT), in 2002 launched a downsizing scheme in which workers aged 50 and over were forced to accept early retirement and reemployment by NTT subsidiaries with 30%-wage cuts.
NTT East and NTT West moved workers, who were members of the Telecommunication Industry Workers’ Union (Tsushin-roso) which opposed NTT’s restructuring system, from their original offices to distant offices. The three were ordered to work at offices in Nagoya City, about 180km away from their original offices in Shizuoka City.
This top court decision was the latest and final ruling in a chain of legal battles by the union claiming that NTT’s relocation of workers who protested the restructuring system to distant locations was unjust.
Following the decision, on October 22, Tsushin-roso and the plaintiffs’ group issued a statement.
In the statement, they criticized the top court for abandoning its duty to protect workers’ rights. Recalling the decade-long court struggles across the nation, they expressed their determination to struggle to change their work environment to respect workers’ dignity.
They also vowed to continue their fight against the company which intends to reduce the wages of workers aged 30 and over instead of the current system for dismissing and rehiring workers aged 50 and older.
