Japan Press Weekly

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2011 November 16 - 22 [LABOR]

Shii criticizes 3-party agreement to relax proposed regulation on temp labor

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on November 17 criticized three present and former ruling parties for drastically relaxing regulations on the use of temporary workers included in the bill to revise the Worker Dispatch Law, saying that they “took the teeth out of the bill.”

The Democratic, Liberal Democratic, and Komei parties agreed to exclude bans on the use of on-call temps and on sending temps to manufacturers from items listed in the bill to revise the Worker Dispatch Law, submitted by the DPJ and Social Democratic and People’s New parties last year.

At a press conference, Shii said that this move will result in a complete return to the neo-liberal “structural reform” policy promoted by the former LDP-Komei government.

Following the “Lehman Brothers Shock” and Japanese manufacturers’ mass dismissals of temporary workers, voters delivered a severe verdict on the “structural reform” policy in the 2009 general election, which brought about the change of the ruling bloc. “The three-party agreement is a betrayal of voters’ hopes and expectations placed on the new government,” the JCP chair said.

On November 16, a rally calling for a drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law was held at the House of Representatives Members' Office Building, hosted by the Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom and the Japan Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren).

Plaintiffs fighting against dismissals of temporary workers by Isuzu Motors, Nissan, and Canon raised their voices of protest against the three-party agreement, proclaiming, “It is an outrageous setback,” and “It is not a ‘reform’ at all.”

“What is the difference between the present bill and the one submitted by the former LDP-led government?” asked Zenroren Vice President Ikuma Shigemi. Pointing out that this move could have an impact on regulations affecting fixed-term contract labor and allow a revision of the part-time employment law, Ikuma stressed the need to strengthen the labor movement to defend workers’ rights.