Japan Press Weekly

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2015 May 13 - 19 [LABOR]

JCP Koike: End illegal labor practices against foreign trainees

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Koike Akira has criticized the national government for intending to expand its international technical intern training program while leaving illegal practices in the use of foreign trainees unresolved.

The Abe Cabinet is planning to submit a bill within the current session of the Diet to extend the training period to five years from the present three years and to expand the use of foreign apprentices to the construction and nursing industries.

Koike in a House Welfare and Labor Committee meeting on May 12 cited that about 33,000 companies and 169,000 trainees are now under this program, and pointed out that 79.6% of these business establishments have violated the Labor Standards Act.

In February this year, 20 Chinese trainees working in a sewing factory called Nissan Tokiwa in Tokushima filed a claim for payment of their unpaid wages with the Labor Standards Inspection Office.

Regarding the 20 Chinese workers at Nissan Tokiwa, Koike said, “They are allowed to have only two days off a year and are forced to work overtime for more than five hours a day, but their hourly overtime pay is only 350 yen. The amount of back pay owed amounts to one million yen for each trainee.” Tokushima’s minimum hourly wage is 679 yen.

Welfare and Labor Minister Shiozaki Yasuhisa replied, “We will harshly deal with the illegal practice.”

Koike again demanded that the government remove companies which engaged in illegal labor practices from the technical intern training program and look into and improve upon immigration and labor rights.

Past related articles:
> Labor ministry panel opens door for use of foreign trainees as cheap labor in nursing-care [January 28, 2015]
> Abe’s attempt to increase use of foreign trainees will lead to further deterioration of their human rights [May 25, 2014]
> Bangladeshi ex-trainee sues for unpaid wages [April 4, 2013]
> 8 Vietnamese trainees win back pay [February 16, 2012]
> Labor office acknowledges first foreign trainee’s death from overwork [July 3 2010]
> Toyota subcontractors paid Vietnamese trainees much less than minimum wage [June 1, 2007]