Japan Press Weekly

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2016 October 26 - November 1 [LABOR]

Former Labor Minister apologizes for certifying Dentsu as ‘worker-friendly’ company

Japanese Communist Party Policy Commission Chair Koike Akira on a TV debate program aired on October 30 pushed a former Labor Minister to acknowledge his mistake of giving a “worker-friendly-company” certificate to Dentsu which repeatedly commits labor law violations.

On the NHK “Sunday Debate” program, Koike mentioned that in early October a Dentsu worker’s suicide was recognized as work-related and that preceding this, in 1991 another case of “karoshi” (death from overwork) already occurred in the company. He pointed out that excessively long work hours at Dentsu are a clear violation of the Labor Standards Act.

Koike took up the fact that the Labor Ministry in 2013 certified Dentsu as a company which is enthusiastic about reducing workers’ working hours.

Stating that Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Tamura Norihisa, who was appearing on the debate program, served as the Labor Minister in 2013, Koike stressed that such an inappropriate certification shows that the government has no intent to protect workers from long work hours, and added, “No wonder deaths from overwork continue to occur.”

In response to Koike, Tamura said that he now questions if he should have awarded the certificate to Dentsu, acknowledging the ministry’s mistake.

Past related article:
> Dentsu worker’s suicide recognized as work-related [October 8, 2016]