JCP sets up task force to block adverse revision of labor laws

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JCP sets up task force to block adverse revision of labor laws

The Japanese Communist Party on December 23 established a task force for blocking an adverse revision of labor laws.

In its first meeting held in the Diet building on December 25, JCP Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi who heads the task force expressed determination to do his best in order to foil the adverse revision of labor laws by stating, "In the face of the sharp increase in the number of 'working poor,' let us fight hard and play a positive role for the sake of the JCP raison d'etre to alleviate unfair burdens on the public."

Ichida at a press conference later in the day stated, "We can never allow the government to enact a law to introduce the white-collar exemption system. This is why we have set up this task force in charge of coordinating Diet deliberations, people's movements, and campaigns in Akahata."

Pointing out that the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren) plans to apply the white-collar exemption to workers who earn yearly more than four million yen, Ichida stated, "According to an estimate, Keidanren targets 10.13 million workers. This law will annul overtime pay of 1.14 million yen a worker or 11.6 trillion yen in total." He strongly criticized the law by stating, "This law is to legitimize unjustifiable corporate practices of excessive long working hours and the deprivation of overtime pay."

Ichida emphasized the other undertaking of the task force by stating, "We will also attach importance to the struggle to force corporations to abide by the existing laws." He said, "The JCP has been calling for the elimination of the two illegal corporate practices, one being unpaid overtime and the other 'disguised contract works,' and is consistently taking up these questions in the Diet. From workplaces, we will give rise to struggles to eliminate the two illegal practices and help temporary workers to become regular workers, and promote this policy in the Diet discussions. This task force will work on this undertaking."

Referring to a variety of plans to adversely revise the labor laws discussed in the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy and the Council for the Promotion of Regulatory Reform under the slogan of "labor Big Bang," Ichida stated, "We will struggle against the trend of abandoning even minimum rules to protect workers, which is a major social problem not simply concerning workers."
- Akahata, December 26, 2006