Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2014 July 30 - August 12 [LABOR]

Nominees for 2014 ‘Black Corporation’ award announced

A citizens group working to protect workers from sweatshop-like labor practices on July 30 announced nine nominees for the “Black Corporation” of the Year Award.

The nine nominees include the restaurant chain Daisyo Corporation, West Japan Railway Company (JR West), Japan’s largest home appliance retailor Yamada Denki, animation studio A-1 Pictures, construction company Tama Home, imaging and electronics company Ricoh, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly.

Of the nine, at five companies, such as Daisyo and JR West, workers died from overwork (karoshi).

A 24-year-old Daisyo employee, for example, died after working an average of 112 hours of overtime a month for four consecutive months. The labor ministry in its guidelines for prevention of death from overwork states that working 100 hours of overtime per month may cause karoshi.

At a press conference held for the nomination announcement, asked by reporters about the reason for selecting the metropolitan assembly, the civil group said that while failing to demonstrate self-cleansing capabilities, the assembly attempted to draw a curtain on the issue of sexist jeering at a female member in the June assembly session.

The winner will be declared on September 6.

Past related articles:
> Watami receives ‘Black Corporation’ award [August 13, 2013]
> 8 companies nominated for ‘Black Corporation’ of the Year Award [June 28, 2013]