Japan Press Weekly

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2009 January 7 - 13 [LABOR]

Prime Minister promises to urge large corporations to use their internal reserves

Prime Minister Aso Taro, in response to Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira, promised to urge large corporations to use their internal reserves to secure employment.

At the House of Representatives Budget Committee meeting on January 9, Kasai requested that the government take urgent measures to prevent dismissals of contingent workers and to secure their employment by urging large corporations to use their internal reserves.

Kasai presented data that shows that between 1999 and 2007, the number of contingent workers jumped from 1.07 million to 3.84 million and large enterprises’ internal reserves increased by 60 trillion yen during the same period.

Kasai said, “Large companies accumulated internal reserves by exploiting contingent workers. Just the use of 0.2 percent of internal reserves can contribute to provide full-time positions to 85,000 contingent workers who will be laid off by the end of March. The government should press big enterprises to make efforts to secure jobs by using their internal reserves.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Kawamura Takeo also declared, “The government will push companies through business organizations.”

Referring to the fact that Mitsubishi Fuso Truck and Bus Corp. sacked about 500 temporary and fixed-term contract workers, Kasai said, “Together with urgent measures to prevent employers from firing workers, a drastic revision of the Worker Dispatch Law is necessary.”

JCP urges government to provide relief to ‘tent village’” workers

Regarding workers who have come to the “tent village” relief center and who are now staying at four temporary facilities in Tokyo until January 12, Kasai urged the Labor Minister to take action on their behalf, stating, “Although the expiration date for use of the facilities will come soon, the government should not kick them out into the streets in the dead of winter.”

Labor Minister Masuzoe Yoichi replied, “The ministry will provide possible support to help them find jobs and places to live in.”

In response to the request that Kasai made to help laid-off workers across the nation, Prime Minister Aso said, “The government will take measures which are more different than ever before.”