December 22, 2012
Temporary workers at a Canon factory, who accused the company of committing employment contract fraud, on December 20 won an out-of-court settlement.
The plaintiffs are five members of a trade union comprising contingent workers. According to the negotiated settlement, two of them are to be employed by a Canon subsidiary as regular employees and the other three are going to retire after obtaining the settlement money from the maker.
The five were working for a general contractor that provides contract staffing services. In 2000, they were dispatched to a Canon factory producing optical equipment in Tochigi’s Utsunomiya City. Since then, they have worked as temporary employees under the direct supervision of Canon officials. The manufacturing company, however, claimed that those employees were ‘piece-workers’, not temps. The Worker Dispatching Act requires employers to offer a permanent job to temp staff when they continue to hire those workers for more than three years.
In 2006, the five workers learned that Canon was using them illegally, formed a union and made a complaint to the Tochigi Labor Bureau. In 2007, shortly before the bureau was about to issue an order to Canon to address the matter, the maker directly employed the workers as fixed-term employees. During collective bargaining after that, however, Canon firmly refused to designate them as full-time, regular employees. Late in August 2009, right after the workers filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against Canon, the company fired them in retaliation.
Union chair Akutsu Shin’ichi, one of the plaintiffs, said at a press conference, “Supported by many people, we got the corporation to admit its unlawful act, achieving the settlement in our favor. I hope this victory will encourage all workers to stand up for their rights.”
The plaintiffs are five members of a trade union comprising contingent workers. According to the negotiated settlement, two of them are to be employed by a Canon subsidiary as regular employees and the other three are going to retire after obtaining the settlement money from the maker.
The five were working for a general contractor that provides contract staffing services. In 2000, they were dispatched to a Canon factory producing optical equipment in Tochigi’s Utsunomiya City. Since then, they have worked as temporary employees under the direct supervision of Canon officials. The manufacturing company, however, claimed that those employees were ‘piece-workers’, not temps. The Worker Dispatching Act requires employers to offer a permanent job to temp staff when they continue to hire those workers for more than three years.
In 2006, the five workers learned that Canon was using them illegally, formed a union and made a complaint to the Tochigi Labor Bureau. In 2007, shortly before the bureau was about to issue an order to Canon to address the matter, the maker directly employed the workers as fixed-term employees. During collective bargaining after that, however, Canon firmly refused to designate them as full-time, regular employees. Late in August 2009, right after the workers filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court against Canon, the company fired them in retaliation.
Union chair Akutsu Shin’ichi, one of the plaintiffs, said at a press conference, “Supported by many people, we got the corporation to admit its unlawful act, achieving the settlement in our favor. I hope this victory will encourage all workers to stand up for their rights.”
