Japan Press Weekly

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2020 November 18 - 24 [SOCIAL ISSUES]

Major contractor for Tokyo Olympics may be in violation of organizing committee’s code stipulating employer responsibility

It has come to light that a major event management company undertaking a contract for dispatching security staff for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games may be violating the organizing committee-set code stipulating employer’s responsibility to ensure fair labor practices and working conditions for workers.

The company in question, Shimizu Octo, Inc. is one of co-leaders of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 Security Consortium. Member firms are required to satisfy the organization’s requirements, which are established in accordance with the Tokyo Organizing Committee’s code, such as hiring workers directly and enrolling their workers in social and labor insurance.

Under the laws regarding the social and labor insurance systems, non-regular workers including part-timers will be covered if they work 20 hours or more per week or are employed for more than one month.

A veteran part-timer at Shimizu Octo said, “Normally, we work for more than 10 hours a day at an event site. So, it is easy for us to fulfill the 20-hour minimum.” Another part-timer said, “Most of the part-timers are assigned to jobs on a continuous basis.”

Shimizu Octo, however, argues that part-timers are “day laborers”, supposedly with the aim to evade its legal responsibility to pay social and labor insurance costs for them. This was revealed through a dispute with part-timers regarding the company’s refusal to pay allowances for the leave forced to be taken due to the corona crisis.

Nevertheless, the event management firm intends to maintain the security services contract with the Tokyo Organizing Committee despite its alleged violation of the committee’s rules on employer responsibility.

In response to an Akahata inquiry, Shimizu Octo said that it has nothing to say about its contract regarding the Tokyo Olympics.