Japan Press Weekly

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2010 May 19 - 25 [LABOR]

JCP proposals to make bill effective in protecting temps

At a news conference held in the Diet Building, JCP Policy Commission Chair Koike Akira pointed out that since 2008, struggles against massive corporate dismissals of temporary workers have led to a strong demand for a drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law. Koike pointed out that in the government bill to revise the law, there are two loopholes which leave a vast majority of temporary workers in a status of disposable laborers.

One of the two loopholes is that although the government bill bans the use of temporary workers in the manufacturing sector, temporary workers who are employed by a staffing agency are exempted from the ban. Another loophole is that although the government bill calls for a ban on the use of on-call temporary workers, companies might be allowed to use them to work in “26 special job categories.” These “26 categories”, however, include jobs that do not need any extensive special knowledge or skills such as jobs involving clerical work using personal computers.

The JCP proposal would effectively close these two loopholes. Sending temporary workers would be totally prohibited and the number of “special job categories” narrowed down from 26 to those that actually require special knowledge or technical skills.

In addition, the JCP proposal demands that temporary workers should be treated equally as full-time workers at receiving companies, and that bans on the use of temporary workers in manufacturing industries and the use of on-call temporary workers should be implemented within one year after the bill is enacted.

Koike said that in order to achieve a drastic revision of the law through extensive discussion, it is necessary to invite laid-off temporary workers as sworn witnesses to the House of Representatives Welfare and Labor Committee.
- Akahata, May 21, 2010