Japan Press Weekly

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2015 June 10 - 16 TOP3 [LABOR]

Renesas calls back its ex-regular workers as temps

Renesas Electronics Corporation, a major semiconductor company, is calling back many of its former employees as temporary workers who the maker itself pressured into early retirement by saying, “We no longer have any work here for you.”

Renesas over the past four years reduced its full-time regular employees by approximately 27,000 from a peak of 48,000.

Due to the mass retirement of experienced employees, the remaining members had to work long hours. To make up for this manpower shortage, the maker has been using the same persons as temporary agency workers.

One of the former managers who accepted early retirement after being threatened to be demoted is again working for Renesas, though as a temp.

The semiconductor supplier ordered those who refused to accept early retirement to work at the staffing company Pasona Tech, Inc. or ordered them to find another job.

Pasona Tech is a subsidiary of Pasona Group Inc. of which Takenaka Heizo, leading proponent of adversely revising the law on temporary workers, is the chairman and director.

In early retirement interviews with targeted employees, Renesas told them to participate in “career change seminars”. These were, in fact, where many staffing agencies advertised their job openings.

Moreover, some were told, “Such-and-such a company is saying that it wants to hire you.” After they decided to make a career move, it was found that the company was a staffing agency.

Many staffing agencies, such as Temptaff Co., Ltd., provide temporary workers to Renesas. These companies are continuing to recruit temporary workers for Renesas on the Internet.

Maita Tokuji, chairman of the Denki-Joho Union, an individual workers’ union in the electronics sector, said, “Renesas is calling back its ex-employees now as temps. The company not only disregards worker rights but helps create more low-paid, unstable jobs. Buying advanced skills cheaply will result in an outflow of experienced engineers from Japan.”

Past related articles:
> Union fights against Renesas’s harsh downsizing [August 24, 2013]
> Electronics workers share info concerning 132,000-job cuts [September 16&18, 2012]
> Workers protest against electronics companies’ massive job cuts[July 28, 2012]