Japan Press Weekly

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2013 October 30 - November 5 [LABOR]

Union fights against unfair labor practice at Isuzu

The All-Japan Metal and Information Machinery Workers’ Union (JMIU) Isuzu Motors Branch on October 30 filed a complaint with labor-related authorities against the car maker’s unfair labor practice of discontinuing the contracts of temporary employees after two years and 11 months.

The JMIU requested that the Kanagawa Labor Relation Commission urge the company to sincerely hold collective bargaining negotiations with the union and to stop refusing to renew the contracts of temporary workers who are union members.

An estimated 800 temporary employees now work in Isuzu, but the automaker hires them for no more than three years. Since August this year, Isuzu has sequentially discontinued their contracts.

The temporary workers who want the continuation of their contracts joined the JMIU one after another. Right now, the union is requesting the company to accept collective bargaining talks regarding four unionized temporary employees hoping to work for more than three years.

However, the company is refusing to renew their contracts by claiming that it complies with its rules of employment.

The JMIU criticized this practice as being aimed at kicking union workers out of Isuzu. The union claimed that the termination of contracts is unreasonable because the company achieved record sales and profits in March 2013.