1,679 companies paid 22.7 billion yen in back pay in 2006

   A Labor Ministry survey released on October 5 showed that the number of corporations that had paid more than one million yen in back pay for overtime in FY 2006 under the Labor Standards Inspection Office’s guidance reached 1,679, a record high since FY 2001 when such surveys began.

   The amount of payment totaled about 22.7 billion yen, equivalent to 13.5 million yen per company on average or 120,000 yen per employee.

   The cumulative total from FY 2001 is 107.8 billion yen and involves 6,840 corporations.

   Efforts made by workers and the Japanese Communist Party have achieved this outcome.

   The JCP has used nearly 300 Diet interpellation sessions to address the unpaid overtime work issue and demand the eradication of such an illegal labor practice.

- Akahata, October 6, 2007