Japan Press Weekly

Tweet

2015 January 7 - 13 [LABOR]

Abe’s favorite scholar: Let’s eliminate full-time regular jobs in Japan

Takenaka Heizo, known as Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s lap-dog advisor, has shocked the public by saying in a recently aired TV program, “Let’s eliminate full-time regular jobs in the country.”

Takenaka is a professor at Keio University. He also serves as the chairman of the major temp staff agency Pasona and a member of the Industrial Competitiveness Council, an advisory body to the national government.

In the debate program, the professor said, “Compared with other countries, permanent workers in Japan are overprotected.”

What Takenaka said is a complete fiction. In Japan’s electrical machinery industry, approximately 250,000 regular workers were dismissed in the past couple of years. IBM Japan has been carrying out “lockout” dismissals, in which the company without warning gives dismissal notices to its employees just before closing time and locks them out of the office buildings.

A survey released by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) shows that in terms of job protection, Japan ranked 24th of the 34 member nations in 2013. The 2012 White Paper on the Labor Economy published by the Labor Ministry points out that Japan’s job security measures are fairly modest considering the global standard.

Takenaka claims that workers’ displacement is difficult due to the so-called “four requirements for dismissing workers”. These requirements, established through many labor-related cases, urge companies to make every effort to avoid dismissals and adequately explain to trade unions about the necessity for personnel reductions.

The need now is to give the requirements legal force, not to undermine them.

Past related articles:
> Another union member sues IBM Japan for ‘lockout’ dismissal [July 5, 2014]
> Gov’t panel chair and Takenaka stress ‘self-support’ of quake victims [June 28, 2011]