Japan Press Weekly

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2013 June 12 - 18 [WELFARE]

Welfare workers submit signatures calling for better working conditions

Workers in various welfare facilities across the country on June 13 submitted to the Diet 92,906 signatures calling for the improvement of public welfare programs and better working conditions.

The National Union of Welfare and Childcare Workers (Fukushi- hoikuro) conducted the signature-collecting campaign.

On the same day, 120 union members took part in a rally held in the House of Councilors Members’ Office Building.

The union demanded that the national government take measures to improve welfare programs in line with Article 25 of the Constitution which guarantees the right to live, and provide better working conditions for workers at children’s daycare centers, welfare facilities for the aged and the disabled, and homes for orphaned, neglected, and abused children.

Welfare workers’ workloads are so heavy that they often have to work all day without rest and take work home with them if necessary. They can hardly take any paid holidays. Despite tough working conditions, their wages are low. The average annual income of full-time workers in Japan is 4.7 million yen, while the average annual income for childcare workers and care workers in general are 3.2 million and 3.0 million yen respectively.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Miyamoto Takeshi, who received the signatures, also participated in the rally. He criticized the Abe Cabinet for cutting back funding for social welfare programs with the aim to abandon government financial responsibility for social welfare and he stressed, “We will work hard to improve welfare workers’ working conditions and increase their income.”