Japan Press Weekly

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2015 May 13 - 19 [LABOR]

Renesas reinstates woman worker in her former office under union pressure

Renesas Electronics Corporation on May 18 reinstated a woman worker to her former office in Tokyo. She had been forced to commute a long way to work at another branch office outside Tokyo. This is the result of joint efforts by a trade union working with lawmakers of the Japanese Communist Party.

In the past several years, the semiconductor giant has carried out restructuring measures to halve its workforce. The maker repeatedly met with employees and put pressure on them to accept early retirement. The management often transferred those who rejected such “offers” to other branch offices in remote places.

In October last year, the female employee was forcibly relocated from an office in western Tokyo to another branch in Gunma Prefecture, located to the north of Tokyo. It takes her about two hours to commute each way using an expressway.

The woman is raising a child and her husband is living apart from his family for his job. She asked a trade union for advice. With the union’s help, she demanded that the company return her to her former office.

Meanwhile, JCP Dietmembers met the woman to listen to her story. JCP parliamentarian Koike Akira took up this issue at an Upper House labor committee session on October 22, urging the labor ministry to order the firm to stop harassing the worker. After that, the Tokyo Labor Bureau advised the manufacturer to bring the woman back to her original workplace.

Maita Tokuji, chair of the Denki-Joho Union organizing individual workers in the electric and information industries, said, “Workers and lawmakers have worked together to expose unfair labor practices by Renesas. This is a great achievement. We’ll continue to work to have the maker cease forcing employees to resign and demoting them without justification.”

Another woman who had also been transferred from the Tokyo office to the Gunma branch was reinstated on May 13.

Past related article:
> Woman worker at Renesas wins withdrawal of distant transfer order [April 12, 2015]