Japan Press Weekly

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2009 April 22 - 28 [LABOR]

Workers and small business operators hold rally to defend jobs and economy

About 2,000 workers and small business people held an emergency rally at Hibiya, Tokyo on April 22 demanding that the government stop large corporations from dismissing temporary workers and defend small- and medium-sized businesses. They later marched in demonstration through the government office district of Kasumigaseki.

The rally was called by an organizing committee consisting of 22 organizations, including the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren).

About 80 temporary workers took the stage to report about their success in overturning their employers’ decisions to unilaterally terminate their contracts.

A 21 year-old contingent worker of Nippon Thompson Himeji plant in Hyogo Prefecture reported on his success in winning direct employment with help from the union.

One of 16 temporary workers at the Mazda Motor Corporation Hofu plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture who are struggling to be hired as full-time employees, criticized the large corporation for its irresponsibility in shifting the blame of dismissals onto the staffing agency.

A worker aged 50, who had been illegally hired for four years as a temporary worker at Panasonic’s affiliate in Niigata, faced a wage cut due to production cuts, and was laid off and expelled from the staffing agency dormitory. Reporting his case to the Labor Ministry, he is demanding his job back. He said, “Staffing services should be restricted to specialist jobs, and employment should in principle be direct.”

Zenroren President Daikoku Sakuji in his address said that the urgent need is to make large corporations fulfill their social responsibility to maintain jobs and for the government to redirect the Japanese economy into one led by domestic demand.