35,000 workers get back pay of 4.1 billion yen for overtime work

As a result of the Japanese Communist Party's persistent questionings in parliament and the workers' movement, companies in Tokyo and three other prefectures paid 4.1 billion yen (34 million dollars) to 35,000 workers as back pay for their overtime work in the six months up to March 2003.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry revealed this to JCP House of Councilors member Inoue Miyo.

A total of 8.1 billion yen (67 million dollars) in back pay had already been paid for overtime worked in the 18 months from April 2001 to September 2002 throughout Japan. Akahata of July 31 said that these developments indicate a certain progress in the exposure and correction of overtime work without pay.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry in April 2001 published a notification that employers are obliged to record times worked by workers. In May 2003 the ministry published guidelines stating that the system of workers declaring the overtime they have worked pressures them into underreporting the hours they worked, and should be restricted to unavoidable cases.

These government moves arouse among workers the understanding that making workers work overtime without pay amounts to corporate crime. Movements to denounce this practice has become active in various workshops.

Arguing that overtime work without pay should end, the Japanese Communist Party has brought up 200 questions on this matter in the Diet since 1976, and has proposed policies and bills. (end)