June 19, 2013
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2013 June 19 - 25 [LABOR]
JCP accuses Watami of harsh working conditions |
Japanese Communist Party Upper House member Tamura Tomoko on June 18 raised this issue at a House labor committee meeting.
Tamura pointed out that employers are prohibited by Labor Minister directive from putting pressure on their employees to work more than 45 hours of overtime a month or 360 hours a year. However, Watanabe on his official website said that the average monthly overtime put in by workers at Watami was 38.1 hours in FY 2012. That amounts to 457.2 hours a year and far exceeds the upper annual limit by around 100 hours.
Tamura cited a case of a former full-time worker who worked at Watami for two years. The worker said that during two years of service, the number of hours of overtime in a month reached more than 45 hours six times, and 480 hours a year on average. Despite such long working hours, the worker received less than 150,000 yen a month because the company deducted tens of thousands of yen under various unclear pretexts.
A 26-year-old woman employee of the restaurant chain committed suicide in 2008, and this was recognized as work-related in February. In addition to having to work excessively long hours, she was required to read Watanabe’s books and write reports on them during her days off in order to internalize his business philosophy, Tamura said.
The JCP lawmaker asked the labor minister about his view on Watanabe’s nomination as a Liberal Democratic Party candidate for this summer’s Upper House proportional representation election.
Labor Ministry Tamura Norihisa merely said, “Employers have responsibilities to comply with the workig hour regulations and provide decent working conditions to their employees.”
The ex-Watami worker said, “I can’t stand the Watami Corporation which drove us hard at low wages. It is nothing but a ‘black corporation’.”
Related past articles
> ‘Black Corporation’ Award winner for worst working conditions will run in summer election on LDP ticket [June 7, 2013]
> Izakaya restaurant chain worker’s suicide recognized as work-related [February 23 & 24, 2012]
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