2009 December 16 - 22 [
LABOR]
Government panel starts discussing tighter rules on use of tems
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December 19, 2009
An advisory panel to the labor ministry on December 18 started the discussion of a bill to revise the Worker Dispatch Law with the aim of preventing staffing agencies from using “on-call day laborers” and sending temporary workers to manufacturers. The bill will be submitted to the next ordinary Diet session.
The proposed bill in name and purpose declares the protection of temporary workers. The bill also incorporates provisions calling for tighter rules on the use of temporary workers and for the protection of workers.
Using on-call workers for general work and sending temporary workers to manufacturers will be banned.
Under the bill, if companies are found to be illegally using temporary workers, including “disguised contract work” or are in violation of the legally permitted duration of the use of temporary workers, those companies should offer temporary workers direct employment. If temporary workers accept the offer, companies have to hire them. If companies refuse to offer direct employment, relevant authorities can make a recommendation to directly hire the temporary workers.
Regarding the issue of the use of temporary workers for day labor by the repeated use of short-term contracts, the bill prohibits short-term contracts from being less than two months. The bill also states that when companies use temporary workers, they should be treated as equal as full-time workers doing the same job, and that staffing agencies should give companies the specific figures of cost per temporary worker.
On the same day in front of the Labor Ministry building, the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) held a rally demanding a drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law.
In the rally, Zenroren Vice Secretary General Inoue Hisashi said, “I’m angry that employers consider contingent workers to be an employment adjustment valve. I hope that a drastic revision of the law will stop any further deterioration of the job market.”
The Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo) also held a rally.
- Akahata, December 19, 2009
