Filipino workers underpaid

The Labor Standards Inspection Office in Sakaide City, Kagawa Prefecture, ordered two companies affiliated with Kawasaki Shipbuilding Corp. to pay 58 million yen in back pay to 83 Filipino workers.

It discovered that Kawaju Sakaide Service Co. and Aoi Industries Ltd. have paid the foreign employees only 300 yen per hour, which was far below the prefectural minimum wage of 618 yen. This was in violation of the Labor Standards Law because the companies failed to fulfill what they promised in employment contracts.

The Filipino workers have received about 60,000 yen a month even though their contracts said their monthly base wage would be about 150,000 yen. (end)