Workers in Toyota and affiliates struggle for eliminating unpaid overtime

Workers of Toyota Motor Corporation, Japan's largest car manufacturer, and its affiliates, are rising in action against forced overtime work without pay.

What's happening at Toyota Motor and its subsidiaries? The Japanese Communist Party's workplace branch recently received the following letter from the wife of a worker of Denso, one of Toyota's major suppliers:

"My husband is working for Denso, an affiliate of Toyota. Everyday, he come home after midnight. Sometimes, he is not back until just before dawn. He works on Saturdays and Sundays. When he happens to be off on Sunday, he is asleep all day long. We have no family life. Our children are disgusted with their father. They have stopped asking him to play with them. I think I understand that the job he is doing is supporting our life. He may be paid decently. However, the joy of living, laughing, and having conversations have disappeared from our family life. Is my husband's workplace an exception? "

JCP branch members immediately requested Denso's union to deal with the problem. The union later informed the JCP branch that what that wife complained about was true and promised to make efforts to reduce overtime work.

At Toyota and its affiliates, many workers are forced to work overtime as a result of the shortened time allowed for the development of new products and the reduction in the number of employees on assembly lines in order to increase its international competitiveness. Even if they work late into the night, they are not paid.

Unpaid overtime work is obviously against the law, and the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare on April 6 issued a directive to the ministry's prefectural labor bureau to help eliminate unpaid overtime. The directive specifically states that employers have an obligation to keep records of time worked.

Several workers of Toyota Machine Works, Ltd., Denso, Aisin Home Appliances Sales Co., Ltd., and Toyota Auto Body Co., Ltd., all of which are Toyota affiliates, in February went to the local labor standards inspection office in Aichi Prefecture, together with members of a regional body of the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren), calling for an end to unpaid overtime.

After the ministry issued the directive on unpaid overtime, the workers again went to the local labor standards inspection office on April 17, calling for administrative guidance for companies on the matter to be strengthened. The office in answer said they will try to get the ministry directive implemented, calling on the companies to record workers' work time. The workers were happy with the office's reply.

Several workers of Toyota Motors and three affiliates on March 29 requested the Federation of All Toyota Workers' Unions, a group of 279 unions with a membership of 277,000 in Toyota Motor and its affiliates which belongs to the Japanese Confederation of Trade Unions (Rengo), to help eliminate the practice of unpaid overtime.

Executive members of the Federation in answer said that unpaid overtime is against the law and should be eliminated. They also said, "If managers fail to control the workers' work time properly, unpaid overtime won't be reduced. We will keep a watch on the time management."

A worker at Toyota Machine Works said, "We will make use of the ministry directive to get unpaid overtime eliminated." (end)