Japan Press Weekly

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2014 December 17 - 23 [LABOR]

Zenroren offers nationwide labor counselling service

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) has recently released a report about its nationwide counselling service for workers suffering from illegal and unfair labor practices.

Under a situation where the highly exploitative and harsh labor practices of so-called “black corporations” have become a much discussed social issue, Zenroren’s local unions on December 10 carried out telephone consultations.

Among issues for which callers sought advice and information, the issue regarding unpaid wages and overtime was the largest, followed by the issue of workplace bullying and harassment, including sexual harassment and abuse of power, and the issue regarding working hours and holidays.

The most frequent callers were workers in their 40s.

In Osaka, a mother of a male worker working at a distribution warehouse called Zenroren’s advice line and said, “I’m very worried about my son because he works nearly 100 hours overtime every month.”

A pregnant temporary worker on the phone complained that a company to which she was dispatched refused her application for maternity leave, and she asked for advice.