Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 30 - November 5 [NUCLEAR CRISIS]

TEPCO should instruct Fukushima subcontractors to pay hazardous duty allowance to workers: JCP Shiokawa

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Shiokawa Tetsuya on October 30 urged TEPCO to have Fukushima subcontractors pay their workers hazardous duty allowances at a Lower House Economy and Industry Committee meeting.

Shiokawa pointed out that companies doing decontamination jobs outside the Fukushima nuclear power plant under a contract with the Environment Agency pay their workers a hazardous duty allowance of 10,000 yen per day in addition to their regular daily wages. Meanwhile, subcontractors receiving work contracts at the plant from Tokyo Electric Power Company provide to their workers only daily wages ranging from 7,000-10,000 yen without hazardous duty allowance.

The JCP lawmaker stressed, “The low pay rate caused difficulties in recruiting workers. The need now is for the Fukushima plant operator to have its subcontractors provide a hazardous duty allowance.”

TEPCO President Hirose Naomi accepted the fact that a survey on subcontract workers indicates that nearly half of the respondents said that their daily pay includes no hazardous duty allowance. He, however, took the stance of leaving the matter up to subcontractors.

Citing the fact that the Environment Agency contracts out Fukushima-related work to companies under the condition that payment of daily wages should be in addition to hazardous duty allowance, Shiokawa said to Hirose, “You can do the same if you try.”