Japan Press Weekly

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2009 January 14 - 20 [LABOR]

Union wins direct employment for Japanese-Brazilian worker

“Now I feel at ease in my work. It was good to participate in the union struggle.”

Fernando Matsuoka is Japanese-Brazilian. He works at an auto parts supplier in Hamamatsu City in central Japan as a temporary worker. He is also the head of a union branch affiliated with the All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU).

The JMIU Western Shizuoka branch recently forced the company to cancel the dismissal of 50 temporary workers and to directly hire them from January.

Matsuoka, 43, came to Japan 19 years ago. Five years ago, he began to work at the auto parts supplier with 250 full-time employees. The plant operates around the clock, with two shifts. Matsuoka had to work three hours overtime every day and also work on holidays.

His hourly wage was 1,300 yen. He was not covered by social insurance. He had no paid holiday. The company rejected his request for insurance coverage and a right to paid holidays. If a worker makes such a demand, the company would say to him, “You do not need to report to the plant tomorrow.”

What is more, although he was supposed to be an independent contractor, he was a temporary worker disguised as a contractor. In fact, his work was directed by the company where he was working.

It is illegal for a company accepting independent contractors to use them under its control or direction. Using temporary workers in the guise of independent contractors benefits companies in that employers can escape from the responsibility to ensure their safety and ignore the provision that limits a contract term to one year in the manufacturing industry.

Matsuoka said, “I was worried about being able to pay for medical bills for my only daughter. We all wanted to put an end to such working conditions.”

Last summer, he visited the Western Shizuoka Federation of Trade Unions to seek advice regarding establishing a union. Advised to join with his co-workers, Matsuoka called on his colleagues. There were many who hesitated to agree to establish a union out of fear that they would be fired if they joined the union.

Matsuoka continued to persuade his co-workers explaining that establishing a trade union is indispensable to make the workplace reliable for workers. The number of supporters increased.

Power of labor union

Soon after establishing the union in mid-October 2008, Matsuoka and vice head Araki Shigeyoshi were fired. Araki, a production line leader, gained the respect of his foremen and supervisors. In spite of the “production cut” referred to by the company, the dismissals of the two were obviously a union busting tactic.

Matsuoka said, “We will not surrender to the illegal dismissals. With the union’s power, we can get the order withdrawn. We will struggle until we are directly employed.”

The dismissals of the two strengthened union solidarity, contrary to what the company had expected.

Union wins direct employment positions

A staffing agency that sent temporary workers to the company initially rejected the union demands. But it was forced to listen to the union after its use of temporary workers disguised as independent contractors was exposed by the union.

The staffing agency eventually retracted the two workers’ dismissal notices and told the union that it would request the company to directly employ them.

With the illegal use of temporary workers in the guise of independent contractors coming to light, the company on December 18 agreed to directly hire all 50 temporary workers. The union successfully forced the company to agree that contracts of employment will be renewed in principle every three months. The company also agreed to consult the union in case the company has difficulty renewing contracts. The company also promised to enroll the temporary workers in social insurance programs, give them the right to paid leave, and pay for workers’ uniforms.

Yoneo Nakao, 40, who has worked for the company for 18 years, said with a smile, “If we had not established a union, we would not have been able to change the structure of our workplace. I’m very glad now.”

The head of the consultation center of the local union federation said, “When the two workers were dismissed, they were courageous enough to struggle together with the union. Everyone banded together closely so that they were able to win their struggle.”

After the union achieved their demands, Araki received a telephone call commending his success saying, “Way to go!” The caller was the person who had been reluctant to join the union saying, “The union is helpless.” That was when Araki was fired. This time around, he apologized for his past defeatist attitude and said to Araki, “I will join the union.”

The local federation and the JMIU Western Shizuoka branch have become a focus of attention among Japanese-Brazilian workers in the region, who now say, “The union will help us solve problems.” Gaining the trust of foreign workers by word of mouth, the branch now has about 400 foreign members. Workers, who were denied contract renewals, recently established another JMIU union branch to increase their struggle against dismissals of temporary and other contingent workers, including foreign workers. Late last year, about 200 foreign workers marched in demonstration through Hamamatsu City and received a lot of media attention.

The union branch led by Matsuoka is working hard to ensure that they can stably continue working, become full-time regular workers, win a wage increase that is enough to support their families without anxieties, receive bonuses, and work under improved working conditions.

Matsuoka said, “Our struggle has just begun. We need to make more efforts to increase the union membership and band together so that all of us can become full-time regular workers.”