June 22, 2022

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Kira Yoshiko on June 20 took part in a forum hosted by the Internet media HuffPost Japan for discussion between the U30 and political parties.

In the first part, Kira discussed with other political party lawmakers what policies should be implemented to improve wages and social welfare in order to remove millennials’ anxiety about their future.

Kira said that the biggest factor behind the stagnation in workers’ wages is the low level of minimum wages nationwide, which allows the use of non-regular workers as cheap labor. She said, “The JCP seeks to increase minimum wages to 1,500 yen an hour across Japan. Financial resources for this measure will be secured by taxing internal reserves amassed by large corporations.”

Regarding social welfare, Kira said that this matter is often argued under an elderly-versus-younger generation structure. However, she added, cutbacks in the current social services, such as the public pension system, matter to all generation as it will lead to a decrease in future benefits. She said, “It is the government’s responsibility to allocate substantial funds, which are secured with fair taxation, for social welfare and education. It is totally unacceptable for the government to increase the military budget.”

In the second part, Kira answered questions from the U30.

Asked about labor protections for freelance workers, Kira pointed out that freelance workers are excluded from the application of labor laws, including minimum wage regulations, and said that it is urgently necessary to expand labor protections to these workers.