Japan Press Weekly

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2012 July 25 - 31 [POLITICS]

Lower House passes bill to revise Labor Contract Law

The House of Representatives on July 26 passed a bill to revise the Labor Contract Law, which fails to meet workers’ demand for regulations to limit the use of fixed-term contract employees to fill temporary needs. The bill was sent to the Upper House.

On the previous day, a Lower House labor committee voted for the bill after only 3 hours of deliberations. Japanese Communist Party representative Takahashi Chizuko, prior to the taking of the vote, criticized the bill as infringing on “workers’ right to demand decent working conditions.”

Pointing out that one in 4 workers are employed on fixed-term contracts and 74% of them earn less than 2 million yen a year, Takahashi stated that the bill will not prevent employers from substituting fixed-term contract workers for full-time workers as part of cost-saving measures.

While calling on companies to offer full-time positions to fixed-term workers who have worked for them for 5 years, the bill fails to require them to improve workers’ working conditions.

Not only that, the bill allows employers to rehire fixed-term workers again on fixed-term contracts as long as there is a break between the two contract periods.