June 18, 2021

Workers in their 20s at Japan’s leading moving company, Osaka-based Sakai Moving Service Co., Ltd, formed their union local to improve their working conditions, Akahata learned on June 17.

The new-born union is a local of the National Union of General Workers (Zenkoku-ippan) affiliated with the National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren). Union members work as movers and drivers at a Sakai branch in Kanagawa’s Kawasaki City.

According to union members, they work under the base salary plus commission system and their take-home pay amounts to 230,000-250,000 yen a month. As their base salary is only 60,000-80,000 yen, they need to heavily rely on commissions and overtime pay. They work 70-99 hours of overtime every month. In the busy season, they are forced to work overtime in excess of 120 hours per month and sometimes, the number of overtime hours they work reaches 180 hours.

Union leader Omori Riku (25) pointed out that converted into an equivalent hourly wage, their wages are lower than Kanagawa’s minimum hourly wage of 1,012 yen. He added that the union in May filed with a local labor law enforcement office a complaint that the company violates the Labor Ministry’s guidelines regarding drivers’ working conditions which limit drivers’ daily driving time to 13 hours with a rest period of eight hours between shifts.

Omori said, “I want the company to negotiate with the union for better working conditions.”