Japan Press Weekly

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2014 November 19 - 25 [LABOR]

Adverse revision of Worker Dispatch Law discarded

Akahata editorial (excerpts)

A bill to adversely revise the Worker Dispatch Law has again failed to pass in the extraordinary session of the Diet following the previous session in June. Joint efforts among trade unions regardless of national center affiliations - the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo), and the National Trade Union Council (Zenrokyo) have brought about this result. The Japanese Communist Party in Diet debates also contributed to the downfall of the bill.

The bill was set to open the door for employers to use dispatched agency workers without limits imposed and close the door for those workers to obtain full-time positions, which generated severe criticism from union activists, lawyers, and researchers.

The Abe government with its Abenomics economic policy put emphasis on the creation of a system in which large corporations could obtain maximum benefits. In order to disguise this real purpose, both the prime minister and the labor minister insisted that the bill would ensure job security and the protection of temporary workers.

However, the ruling coalition partner, Komei, all of a sudden proposed an amendment to the bill, calling to limit the use of temps only to temporary jobs. This move appeared as if the governing party itself admitted that the bill would adversely affect agency dispatched workers.

Yet, the Abe government is still looking for ways to facilitate corporate dismissals and exempt employers from paying overtime along with introducing an adverse revision of the Worker Dispatch Law. Prime Minister Abe dubs the dissolution this time as Abenomics dissolution and is ready to bring up these “reforms” for discussion in the next Diet following the upcoming snap general election.

Expansion of low wage, unstable jobs will have a negative effect on Japan’s economy.

The snap general election offers a great opportunity for the JCP to thwart Abe’s ambitions to weaken the position of workers. A JCP advance in the election will greatly improve the future prospects of the employment situation.

Past related articles:
>JCP Kokuta protests forcible start of debate on labor bill [November 1 & 6, 2014]
>Major national centers of trade unions stage sit-in against rollback in labor law [October 30, 2014]
>What will come after revision of Worker Dispatch Law? [October 27, 2014]