Japan Press Weekly

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2010 June 30 - July 6 [LABOR]

Total ban on sending temporary workers to manufacturers is essential

The JCP says, “The bill will not totally prohibit manufacturers from using temporary workers. The widespread use of temporary workers in manufacturing has become a hotbed of the illegal use of temporary workers.”

The three parties’ bill states that the use of temporary workers in manufacturing should be prohibited in principle, that in order to regulate the unstable state of temporary workers signing up at staffing agencies for jobs, temporary workers, excluding those who provide professional services, should be employed permanently by staffing agencies, and that if a user of temporary workers violates the law, they should be employed directly.

Although the bill will prohibit the use of temporary workers in manufacturing, it will allow manufacturers to use temporary workers in specific services certified by government ordinance.

Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Koike Akira said that it is regrettable that the other three parties reneged on the earlier agreement that four parties, including the JCP, came to regarding issues to be taken up in the discussion on the revision.

The JCP has proposed that a drastic revision to the Worker Dispatch Law include the following measures: (1) prohibit in principle staffing agencies from sending workers just by having them sign up for jobs; (2) prohibit the use of temporary workers for any jobs in manufacturing; (3) establish a provision requiring law-breaking companies to directly employ temporary workers they have used; and (4) establish the principle of equal treatment between full-time workers and temporary workers. - Akahata, June 26, 2009