Japan Press Weekly

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2017 December 13 - 19 TOP3 [LABOR]

Tokyo University union succeeds in opening door for contingent workers to enter into open-ended contracts

Union efforts recently succeeded in opening the door of open-ended employment contracts to 8,000 contingent workers at Tokyo University.

The University of Tokyo, evidently with the aim of evading requirements under the Labor Contract Law, planned to set a 5-year upper limit for the employment period of non-regular workers. The University of Tokyo Faculty and Staff Union and the Union of University Part-Time Lecturers in the Tokyo Area, in order to oppose this plan, waged struggles and held collective bargaining sessions with the university administration.

The Japanese Communist Party in the Diet took up not only the Tokyo University plan but also other national universities’ schemes to bypass the legal obligation to offer indefinite contracts to fixed-term employees with more than five years of service.

JCP member of the House of Representatives Hatano Kimie on December 1 at a House Education Committee meeting grilled the Education Ministry spokesperson regarding this issue. JCP lawmakers, Miyamoto Toru and Kira Yoshiko, conducted hearings with unions, including the Tokyo University union.

The University of Tokyo on December 12 announced its decision to withdraw the plan. With this decision, among the approximately 8,000 non-regular staff members, those who worked at the university for more than five years will be able to gain permanent employment.

Past related articles:
> Network set up to block dismissal of contingent workers at Tohoku University [November 30, 2017]
> Using legal loophole, Tokyo Univ. will stop hiring part-time staff working for more than 5 years [August 24, 2017]