Japan Press Weekly

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2008 October 1 - 7 [LABOR]

Shii calls on young people to develop nationwide solidarity

“We must not allow young workers to be sacked because they were brave enough to expose illegal labor practices!” - Shii Kazuo, Japanese Communist Party chair, said in his speech at a rally of young people calling for jobs with dignity on October 5 in Tokyo.

Expressing solidarity with young people who assembled from around the country to forge unity in the struggle in protest against the use of many young people as disposable workers, Shii said:

“The government and the ruling parties, which were in favor of deregulation as a cure-all, are now beginning to talk about the need to amend the Worker Dispatch Law, though insufficiently. Some large corporations are moving to end the use of temporary labor. This shows that young workers’ struggles are forcing corporations to take a step forward.”

Citing Panasonic Plasma Display Co., Ltd., (former Matsushita Plasma Display Panel), Nichia Corp., and Canon Inc.’s Utsunomiya Optical Products Plant, Shii also said, “Far from making amends for what they’ve done to workers, these companies are sacking workers who exposed illegal labor practices. It is unjustifiable that victims of illegal labor practices are suffering even more damage!”

Shii pointed out that the government and ruling parties, while calling for a ban on the “worker-leasing system for day labor,” are sticking to the mechanism giving employers the freedom to use workers as disposable labor. “The need now is to drastically revise the Worker Dispatch Law in order to force employers to stop using workers as throwaway.

Pointing out that large corporations, including Canon, are ending the use of temporary workers and reclassifying them as fixed-term employees on their payrolls, Shii said, “Let us join forces to stop the use of disposable labor under any form.”

He went on to say that full-time workers are also forced to endure excessively heavy workloads and long working hours, which may lead to Karoshi, or death from overwork, and called for cooperation between non-regular and regular workers to establish decent rules so that everyone can work with human dignity.

Shii concluded his speech by stating that more and more young people are now confronting to unfair labor practices, adding, “They are helping to create a better future for all.”