Japan Press Weekly

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2024 October 9 - 15 [POLITICS]

Tamura in one-on-one debate calls on PM Ishiba to take measures to achieve higher wages and shorter working hours

Japanese Communist Party Executive Committee Chair Tamura Tomoko on October 9 stressed, “A truly affluent society can be established only when everyone has enough free time and earns income that supports a decent standard of living,” and demanded that the government take measures to achieve higher wages and shorter working hours.

She made this demand in a one-on-one debate with Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru which took place on the day in the Diet.

Stating that the biggest key to raising wages under the ongoing inflation is to provide direct government support to small- and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) which employ 70% of Japan’s workforce, Tamura referred to the JCP proposal to use revenues from temporary taxation on large corporations’ internal reserves to finance support for SMEs, and demanded immediate government assistance to SMEs.

Regarding the need to reduce working hours, Tamura pointed out that workers in Japan work 300 hours longer annually than those in European countries, and added that health problems related to long working hours, such as “karoshi (death from overwork)” and mental disorders, have long been a social issue.

In addition, Tamura claimed that in order to realize a gender-equal society, a reduction in working hours is urgently needed, and said that in this regard, the JCP published a “bill to promote shorter working hours to expand free time.” She said that the bill calls for setting a national goal of shifting the legal working hours to a “7-hour day, 35-hour week” and proposes a package of measures to achieve this which include the provision of support for SMEs and the tightening of regulations on overwork.

PM Ishiba, while admitting to the importance of increasing workers’ wages and reducing working hours, gave negative response to Tamura’s request.

Past related articles:
> Executive Committee Chair Tamura announces JCP policy for achieving higher wages and shorter working hours [September 21, 2024]
> JCP proposes 8-pillar emergency economic package [April 16, 2022]