Japan Press Weekly

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2014 April 23 - May 6 TOP3 [LABOR]

Union in Hitachi Group company wins shorter working hours

Winning shorter working hours, a labor union in a Hitachi group company celebrated the International Workers’ Day of May Day which originated in the eight-hour workday movement.

The union is the All Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU), an affiliate of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren). Its branch organizes workers at a factory of the Hitachi Group’s Hitachi Construction Machinery Tierra Co., Ltd., in Osaka.

In the factory, workers have been enduring long work hours mainly due to a labor shortage. Last year, nine work-related accidents were reported.

The JMIU branch last autumn conducted a questionnaire survey in regard to long working hours. Responding workers said that they have difficulties in recovering from tiredness because they have to work overtime every day and even work on Saturdays.

With the survey results, the union negotiated with the company. In March this year, the company president admitted that poor staffing has imposed on workers longer working hours and issued a “message” indicating implementation of thorough measures to improve occupational safety and strict compliance with labor laws.

This will contribute to decreasing the maximum number of overtime hours to the government-set cap of 45 hours per month and securing at least 11 consecutive hours free from work, said the union.

The union has also been making efforts to provide temporary agency workers with full-time positions and equal treatment since the company began to use them. In 2012 and in 2013 respectively, the union succeeded in converting two temporary jobs to permanent ones. In this year’s annual spring wage struggle, in response to the union’s demand to hire two young local workers, the company promised to do so.