Unpaid overtime is incompatible with safe flights

About 600 crew members out of the total 7,500 flight attendants of the Japan Airlines are obliged to work without pay for 40 minutes before the starting time to prepare for a safe flight.

The Akahata Sunday edition of June 13 reported that crew members are complaining that they are obliged to plan out the day's assignments before the starting time of work in order to ensure that departure of flights is on time. This contradicts JAL's explanation that work shall begin at the starting time.

A female flight attendant, 55, said that she arrives at the airport 40 minutes earlier than the starting time at 10:15 a.m. and draws up a plan of assignments for the 16 cabin attendants for a jumbo jet. A meeting on the plan takes 45 minutes, followed by an hour safety check and bringing in of meals in preparation for departure at twelve.

A male attendant said, "For a flight to Brazil, the longest flight from Tokyo, it is necessary to make one more assignment list because crew members work in shifts. So it takes an hour to make four plans, but this portion of work is without pay. "

It was after the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry issued circulars in 2001 and 2003 instructing that such practices must end that JAL flight attendants began to demand an end to this unpaid overtime work that has lasted for over 30 years.

In May 2003, a group of JAL flight attendants filed a complaint at the Labor Standards Bureau demanding that their unpaid wages be paid, and the LSB ordered JAL to pay them in back wages.

But JAL refused the payment, saying that work starts at the starting time and that there are no data to show that the workers worked overtime.

A survey by the flight attendants union shows that 80 percent of the attendants report for work earlier than the starting time, and 63 of 64 respondents said on-time departure is impossible if they arrive at the airport at the designated starting time of work.

Clerical workers are also obliged to work overtime without pay. In 1992 JAL removed time recorders and told workers not to work more than 5 hours of overtime a month. However, a survey shows that in 2003 a worker worked 32 hours overtime monthly on average.

In the House of Councilors Committee on Health, Labor, and Welfare meeting on June 10, Japanese Communist Party representative Inoue Miyo demanded that the HL&W Ministry instruct JAL to stop obliging employees to work overtime without pay. The HL&W minister promised to investigate the matter. (end)