Japan Press Weekly

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2013 February 20 - 26 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

Decontamination workers in Fukushima suffer from threats of violence

The Fukushima Prefectural Federation of Trade Unions, providing a telephone counseling service to the workers engaged in the decontamination work after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, has received more than 30 requests for advice by February 20. Among them are complaints about skimming off of wages and working without being paid.

One of the callers said, “My friend, who has been working as a temporary worker, has not received wages over four months. When he demanded payment, a man looking like a gangster came and intimidated him.” The caller went on to say, “I’m worried about his health. It seems that his cellphone has been taken away from him, and I cannot contact him.”

Another worker said, “I was forced by my temp agency to submit a signed pledge to state that I get more money than I am actually paid. When I protested, a yakuza gang member showed up to threaten me.” He added that it is difficult for him to notify the authorities of the fraud for fear of retaliation by his employer.

According to some testimonies, many of those workers are excluded from social insurance coverage such as employment insurance, and forced to pay out of their own pockets for work necessities such as rubber boots and gloves as well as for commuting expenses.

A mother whose son is involved in the work said, “My son received only 100,000 yen for his 40-day work contract. When I urged him to consult a labor standards inspection office, he refused, saying, ‘I would be fired.’ He asked me to inform the police in case he does not come back from work.”

The federation’s labor counseling center head Ogawa Hideo said to Akahata, “I felt strongly that the circumstances surrounding those workers are being kept in the dark. Major general contractors, which accept orders for the decontamination work, throw the work to their subcontractors. Yakuza gangs representing themselves as staffing agencies are taking advantage of the government’s lack of measures to deal with unfair practices such as pocketing kickbacks from these workers’ wages.”