Japan Press Weekly

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2012 March 28 - April 3 [LABOR]

Unfair rulings delivered on ex-JAL crewmembers

The Tokyo District Court on March 30 unfairly dismissed a case filed by 72 former Japan Airlines cabin attendants seeking the revocation of their dismissals.

The court on the previous day also rejected a similar suit filed by 76 former JAL pilots.

The court upheld the necessity of dismissing workers as means to reduce the workforce in proportion to the reduction in business operations, although JAL chairman at that time Inamori Kazuo in his testimony admitted that it was possible for the company to avoid firing the plaintiffs.

The court ignored the fact that at the time of their dismissals, JAL had already obtained 158.6 billion yen in operating profits, up 94.6 billion yen from the initial goal for the year, and that 1,700 crew had accepted voluntary early retirement, surpassing the initial target of 1,500.

After the court decision, some 440 plaintiffs, supporters, and legal team members held a rally and reaffirmed their commitment to call for an increase in aviation safety and the reversal of the dismissals.

Lawyer Funao Toru at the rally criticized the two rulings as blindly accepting JAL arguments.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo at the rally stated, “The decisions contain 2 big problems.”

One problem, Shii said, is that the judge hollows out the “4 requirements” that corporations should meet when conducting dismissals and allows JAL a free hand by allowing it to hide behind its “reorganization plan”.

The other problem, he said, is that the judge also allows JAL to dismiss those whom the carrier claims to be making a relatively smaller contribution to flight services on the grounds that they have taken days off due to illness, leaves of absence, absence from flight services, or limited flight assignments in the past.

Shii said, “With this, crewmembers will be afraid to inform the company that they feel sick or need time off, leading to a further deterioration in aviation safety.”

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The plaintiffs on April 1 held a general meeting and decided to work to gain more public support for their movement in order to take the case to higher court and obtain a favorable ruling.

They staged a sit-in protest in front of the head office of JAL on the next day.

Yamaguchi Hiroya, a former JAL pilot representing the plaintiffs, stated that experienced pilots such as those in filing the lawsuit are essential to maintaining aviation safety and that they will continue to fight until they win the case.