Japan Press Weekly

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2009 February 25 - March 3 [LABOR]

Metal workers hold rally opposing massive dismissals

On March 1, metal workers assembled in Kyoto and Nagoya Cities to share their experiences in the struggles against mass dismissals of temporary and other contingent workers. They were sponsored by an organizing committee that includes the All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU).

About 1,000 people from all over western Japan took part in the rally held in Kyoto City.

Tatsuta Yukihiko, the organizing committee chair, made the opening speech and said, “Workers, who are in no way responsible for Japan’s economic recession, are its main victims. If workers are united and rise up in struggle, we can ensure that our future will be free of anxieties.”

Workers appeared on the stage and spoke about their struggles.

A member of the JMIU branch at Sharp Corporation’s Fukuyama plant in Hiroshima Prefecture said, “I was fired on December 15. I got information about a labor union at a jobs counseling center and called on my colleagues to form a union. We’ll now fight together.”

Female part-time workers, dismissed by a Denso Corporation’s supplier in HigashiOsaka City, stated, “My company is terrible because they treated us like garbage. We are responsible for our household economy, so we can’t accept our dismissals.”

230 participants in the rally held in Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture, came from four prefectures in the Tokai region and included Brazilian workers who formed their ownunion last autumn.

Participants in both rallies marched in demonstration and appealed to the public by chanting, “Dismissals of contingent workers are unacceptable!”