Japan Press Weekly

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2008 December 3 - 9 [LABOR]

Shii submits to government an urgent plan to defend jobs and SMEs

At a news conference on December 4, Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo announced that he had submitted a written request calling on the government to take “emergency measures to defend jobs and the existence of small- and midsized enterprises.” The letter was sent to Prime Minister Aso Taro.

The move came on the eve of a one-on-one meeting between Shii and Aso.

Shii said that the JCP had already proposed emergency economic measures to protect people’s living standards from the current economic downturn (Nov.11), but that since then, “as the end of the year approaches, more and more workers are losing their jobs and many SMEs are on the verge of bankruptcy.”

“In order to reduce the impact of the present crisis, the JCP is requesting that the government take immediate measures that the government can take only if it has the political will to do,” he said.

Stating, “An effort must be made to avoid creating a large number of unemployed people being thrown out onto the street at the end of the year,” the JCP called on the government to instruct and supervise large corporations and business circles to fulfill their social responsibilities to secure jobs. It also urged the government to radically improve its current measures to assist the unemployed.

“To prevent SMEs from going out of business due to funding difficulties,” the JCP pressed the government to make the major banks and large corporations bear their social responsibilities to help small business continue their operations in addition to an extra urgent governmental bailout to support SMEs’ financial solvency.

Shii criticized the ongoing mass dismissals of contingent workers at large corporations for completely ignoring “the rule of dismissal that obliges employers to meet four requirements when dismissing employees for the purposes of corporate restructuring.”

“Even in light of this rule, it is the responsibility of government to stop large corporations from throwing out contingent workers,” stressed Shii.

Asked by reporters about the ruling parties’ measures to secure jobs which will soon be published, Shii said, “They only provide certain allowances to people who lose their jobs but do nothing to stop further dismissals.”