Japan Press Weekly

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2012 March 14 - 20 [LABOR]

Former JAL subsidiary workers launch court battle to win back jobs

Two dismissed workers of a JAL subsidiary on March 14 filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court calling on Japan Airlines to fulfill its responsibility as the parent company because it broke up the subsidiary with its corporate restructuring scheme.

They are 43-year-old Izumi Seiji, who is seeking a new job at a JAL group company, and 60-year-old Sato Jiro, who is demanding compensation for the loss of wages that he would have received if he had worked until his retirement age of 60.

The JAL subsidiary, Nitto Aircraft Maintenance, provided heavy maintenance services for JAL aircraft required by the Aviation Law. In January 2011, Nitto was forcibly dissolved by JAL because it decided to shift its aircraft maintenance business to another company in the group under its restructuring process. Nitto was the only company in the JAL group which had to close down due to the company’s restructuring plan.

At the time when Nitto was dissolved, all 147 Nitto employees were forced to accept voluntary resignations and 13 of these workers, including the two who filed the lawsuit, refused to do so and were dismissed.

The plaintiffs claimed that they should have been hired by the company to which the airline transferred Nitto’s aircraft maintenance business.

This issue was taken up in the Diet in February 2011 by Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Kokuta Keiji.