Japan Press Weekly

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2008 December 23 - 2009 January 6 [LABOR]

Trade unions together fight against dismissals of temporary workers

Workers opposing dismissals of temporary workers at Isuzu Motors, Nissan Diesel, Mitsubishi Fuso Truck & Bus Corporation, Hino Motors, Oita Canon, and other large corporations, published a joint appeal calling for cancellation of the dismissals. They also demanded that the Worker Dispatch Law be revised.

The appeal was announced at a news conference on December 24 at the Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry.

A signboard held by a worker read “The management is a failure.”

Matsumoto Hirotoshi, chair of the Isuzu Motors branch of the All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU) said, “Unless you workers yourselves take courage and speak out now, you will keep on regretting your inaction for the rest of your lives. The only way not to have such regrets is to make up your mind to take action now.”

Participants in the news conference said that temporary workers who have been laid off find themselves without jobs and places to live in this cold weather. They called for the dismissals to be cancelled and housing to be secured.

A worker who has been ordered by Hino Motors to leave the company dormitory by January 5 said, “I’m not moving out. I will stay to show my determination.”

A temporary worker at Nissan Diesel, who had the staffing service company retract its dismissal order, said, “The point is to fight back. We must never give up.”