labor3

NTT forces worker to commute long distances in corporate restructuring scheme

Akahata of April 24 reported that NTT Corporation, a telecommunication giant now seeking to restructure its 110,000 employees, has forced an employee to commute five hours to work and back as a punishment for his refusal to obey the company order.

Kamino Yasuhiro, 56, of NTT West Japan, has to nurse his sick mother in Osaka and commute to a Nagoya office, 216 kilometers away.

In the corporate restructuring in 2002, he was transferred in May to the sales section, in which he had no experience, and in November to the Nagoya office.

NTT transferred Kamino to the distant office even at the expense of 1.7 million yen a year for his travel expenses. It is because Kamino is a member of the Telecommunication Workers Union which firmly opposed the corporate restructuring plan.

In the NTT restructuring program, employees fifty and over are pressured to resign and then be re-hired by affiliated companies at wages 20 to 30 percent lower.

About 50 workers, including Kamino, filed a lawsuit, arguing that retirement at age 50 is illegal, that wage cuts amounts to disadvantageous changes in working conditions, and that the transfers violate the law on nursing care leave.

Kamino expressed his determination to continue his struggle against the corporate restructuring, saying, "NTT has a mission to protect telecommunication for the public, since 46 percent of its shares is held by the government. If we condone illegality here, it will adversely affect other corporations." (end)