2015 January 28 - February 3 [
LABOR]
JCP pledges protection of temps to unions vs. LDP pledges removal of protection to temp agencies
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Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on January 29 visited the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) head office in Tokyo and exchanged with Zenroren executives views about efforts to improve contingent workers’ working conditions.
Noting that the number of workers engaged in low-paying jobs has reached 20 million, Shii pointed out the necessity to solve problems regarding their working conditions and low wages.
Zenroren President Odagawa Yoshikazu reported that more and more workers, irrespective of their union affiliations, are joining the struggle against government moves to withdraw legal protections, such as the rules on the use of temps and working time regulations, from workers.
The JCP and Zenroren agreed to jointly work to increase public support for their efforts.
Just two days before the JCP-Zenroren talks, at a New Year’s party hosted by the Japan Staffing Services Association, a nationwide organization of dispatching business companies, parliamentarians of the Liberal Democratic, Komei, and Japan Innovation parties proclaimed their determination to contribute to easing the law on the use of dispatching workers, which would deprive them of a chance to get full-time positions.
LDP representative and former Labor Minister Tamura Norihisa declared that the LDP will work hard to realize the staffing service industry’s ambition by submitting a bill to revise the law.
Furuya Noriko, Komei vice chair and a member of the House of Representatives, said, “I’ll do my best to achieve the revision of the law. I need your wisdom and support.”
Citing Takenaka Heizo, the chair of Japan’s leading temp agency, Pasona, who recently proposed creating a society where no one can find a full-time job, JIP Lower House member Kakizawa Mito said, “I totally agree with his proposal.”
Past relate article:
> Abe’s favorite scholar: Let’s eliminate full-time regular jobs in Japan [January 8, 2015]