Japan Press Weekly

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2011 September 7 - 13 [WELFARE]

Medical workers hold meeting to protect three-shift system

About 300 medical workers on September 6 gathered in Atami City in Shizuoka Prefecture to exchange their views and experiences in movements to increase the number of medical workers and improve working conditions.

On behalf of the organizer, Japan Federation of Medical Workers’ Union (Iroren) President Yamada Mamiko reported that as a result of the union’s nationwide campaign in 2010, the Welfare and Labor Ministry instructed prefectural labor department heads, prefectural leaders, and medical organizations to promote better working conditions for medical workers.

Delivering the keynote speech, Iroren Vice President Nakano Chikako called on union members to make more efforts to achieve a success in this year’s nationwide campaign and signature-collecting drive calling for a drastic increase in the number of medical workers and better working conditions for night shift nurses.

A delegate of a union at Miyagi’s Nishitaga National Hospital, at which hospital authorities plan to introduce a two-shift system, gave a report about the union’s survey on the plan. She said that 94% of respondents expressed their anxiety about the two-shift work system and a full 75% of respondents opposed the plan. She said that her union is resolved to make more efforts to reach out to residents in the community in order to gain more support to halt the plan.

Sharing an account of her experience in blocking a move to introduce a two-shift system, a delegate of the Akita City Hospital union said that in order to protect nurses from overwork, her union will continue to work hard to maintain the current three-shift system under which nurses can work under conditions of relatively low physical stress and to achieve a substantial increase in the number of nurses.