Japan Press Weekly

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2020 October 7 - 13 [LABOR]

Hitachi subsidiary worker with help from union rebuffs forced resignation

With help from a union, a male IT technician at a Hitachi subsidiary in Yokohama City has won his struggle against a forced resignation attempt, Akahata reported on October 13.

In early June, the worker in his 40s was forced by his boss to submit a resignation letter. As the reason for this, his boss pointed out that although the worker drives to work, he applies for a transportation allowance designed to subsidize travel expenses of employees commuting by public transport. The worker, however, has never been instructed by the company not to apply for this allowance.

Having problems with his boss’s action, the worker visited the Denki-Joho Union, which organizes individual workers in the electronic and information industries, to ask for help. Together with the union, the worker began negotiating with the company about his forced resignation. At the end of June, they succeeded in having the Hitachi-affiliated firm accept the cancellation of his resignation.

The worker said to Akahata that he is now fully aware of the importance of unions.