Japan Press Weekly

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2023 October 18 - 24 [LABOR]

JCP releases bill to establish fair rules for non-regular workers

Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Tamura Tomoko on October 18 held a press conference in the Diet building and announced a bill to establish fair rules for non-regular workers and realize gender equality at work.

The bill was drafted as one of the pillars in the JCP “Economic Recovery Plan” which was published in September.

Tamura explained that the bill uses the term “non-regular workers” in a broad sense in order to include freelance workers and gig workers who are outside the traditional employment relationship and that the bill calls for a package of amendments to the Labor Standards Act, the Worker Dispatch Law, and other employment-related laws.

The main aim of the bill is to establish rules regarding labor protection in line with the ILO’s international labor standards, such as equal pay for equal work and equal treatment in work, and fundamentally improve the treatment of non-regular workers. The JCP in the bill proposes that the unfair termination of employment contracts of non-regular workers be prohibited so that they can work with job security; discrimination and unequal treatment of non-regular workers be eliminated; Japan’s labor laws incorporate global standards on gender equality and a ban on harassment; and the national and municipal governments improve working conditions of non-regular workers in the public sector.

Tamura noted that over the past two decades, the number of workers in low-paid non-regular jobs increased by 150% and that women account for 70% of non-regular workers. She said that these facts constitute a major factor behind Japan’s gender inequality represented by the gender pay gap.

Stressing, “The improvement of non-regular workers’ treatment will largely contribute to realizing gender equality in Japan,” Tamura said, “The JCP will work hard to develop collaboration with non-regular workers, trade unions, opposition parties, and a wide range of citizens in order to enact the bill.”

Past related article:
> JCP publishes economic revival plan [September 29, 2023]