Japan Press Weekly

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2011 November 30 - December 6 [LABOR]

Workers win against dismissals for unionizing

A group of eleven workers, dismissed from Solar Silicon Technology (SST) Co. in Kisarazu City in Chiba Prefecture, on December 2 reached an agreement with the company to be reinstated to their original positions from early next year.

The eleven workers are members of the All Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU) SST branch.

The workers received no overtime pay even though they worked 200 hours a month and had only one day off a month. In order to address the harsh working conditions and get SST to compensate workers for overtime work, they formed their own union in May 2010, but five months later they were fired.

They applied for a provisional disposition with the Chiba District Court Kisarazu Branch calling for the suspension of the unfair dismissal order. In March 2011, the court decided to invalidate the dismissals. Following the court decision, the union negotiated with the company.

JMIU branch chair Suwa Mitsuru said, “With help from the JMIU and other unions, we were able to fight against the company’s unfair dismissal. We will work even harder for better working conditions for all workers.”

SST was established in an industrial park developed by funds from the prefecture in 2007 and received 150 million yen in subsidies from the prefectural government.