Japan Press Weekly

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2008 December 23 - 2009 January 6 [LABOR]

Temporary workers at Sharp plant form union to fight against dismissals

Thirty-one temporary workers at Sharp Corporation’s Fukuyama Plant in Hiroshima Prefecture established their union on December 25. They are demanding that their staffing agency retract their dismissals.

These workers, aged between 21 and 40, were sent to a Sharp plant manufacturing liquid crystal display (LCD) television sets by a Fukuyama branch of the Osaka-based staffing agency Career Ship.

Around November 15, the staffing agency told the temporary workers that it had to layoff them due to Sharp’s termination of contracts. They were told to sign the “acceptance of the layoff” so that they can receive employment insurance payments earlier.

The workers are calling for the “acceptance of the layoff” to be retracted claiming that it is illegal to fire workers without providing reasons.

The newly established union has joined a local union affiliated to the Hiroshima Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions and the All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU). They are demanding that the staffing agency confirm them as employees and pay compensation for the dismissals.