Can government bill eliminate disposable use of labor?

Japan Press Weekly

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Can government bill eliminate disposable use of labor? Akahata editorial (excerpts)

The labor minister asked its policy panel to examine the feasibility of the government’s draft bill in regard to a revision of the Worker Dispatch Law which will be submitted to the current ordinary Diet session. Many temporary workers are treated as “disposable labor” because the former government loosened the regulation of the law. These workers are earnestly demanding that their use as disposable labor be stopped. The government’s draft bill, however, does not respond to this demand.

The biggest loophole is that although the draft bill bans the use of temporary workers in the manufacturing sector in principle, it exempts temporary workers who are regularly employed by a staffing agency from the ban. This will allow manufacturing companies to use temporary workers as disposable labor by replacing temporary workers registered on a staffing agency list with temporary workers permanently hired by a staffing agency. Temporary work in the manufacturing sector should be totally prohibited.

Another big loophole is that although the draft bill prevents the use of on-call temporary workers in principle, it excludes “26 specialist fields” which require expert knowledge, technical skill, or extensive experience. In these “26 specialist fields”, however, general work such as typing and filing are included. A million temporary workers are dispatched to jobs under these 26 categories. About 450,000 of them are doing clerical work and designated as specialists because companies can use them as long as possible. The “26 special fields” should be revised and reduced.

In addition, the draft bill states that the principles that ban the use of temporary workers in the manufacturing sector and the use of on-call temporary workers, with the exception of the “26 special fields”, will be applied in three years. This is too late and too subservient to the demands of financial circles. The government must change its policy.

- Akahata, February 19, 2010