August 8, 2016
Prime Minister Abe Shinzo has created a post in his reshuffled Cabinet, “Minister for Working-style Reform”, as working-style reform is one of his Cabinet’s major objectives. What is his real aim?
Abe at a press conference on August 3 said that it is necessary to address excessively long working hours, enforce the same-job-same-pay principle, and eliminate non-regular employment. In order to handle these problems caused by current labor practices, the prime minister appointed Kato Katsunobu as the Work-style Reform Minister. Abe stated that he will set up a council which will discuss labor practice reform under the minister and have the council compile an action plan by March 2017.
The creation of the ministerial post and the council do not mean that Abe made a full commitment to improving workers’ working conditions. In reality, the Abe Cabinet seeks to push forward with pro-business labor policies by excluding labor representatives from the policy-making process.
As labor and management have a conflict of interest, the government is required to ask for advice from the Labor Policy Council (LPC) of the Labor Ministry before making major revisions to labor laws or deciding on new labor policies. The council is a Labor Minister’s advisory panel and consists of representatives from labor, management, and outside experts. This requirement is one of the international standards set by the ILO.
If acknowledging the need for “work-style” reforms and following accepted procedure, the government should just make inquiries to the tripartite council. However, the Abe government set up a new minister and a new council. This is because Abe and the business circles know that it is not easy to pass their proposals through the LPC due to opposition from labor representatives. It is clear that Abe and business leaders are intending to implement measures which allow corporations to force workers to work longer with lower wages and which increase unstable employment.
The Abe government has been seeking to effectively marginalize the LPC in the labor policy-making process. The Abe Cabinet, for example, repeatedly approved labor policies based on proposals by the pro-business Competitiveness Council and the Regulatory Reform Council which have no labor representatives. Then, only after deciding on the policy outline, the Labor Minister consulted with the LPC just to receive a retroactive consent.
The creation of the Working-style Reform Minister is part of Abe’s move to abolish the tripartite policy-making system on labor issues.
Abe at a press conference on August 3 said that it is necessary to address excessively long working hours, enforce the same-job-same-pay principle, and eliminate non-regular employment. In order to handle these problems caused by current labor practices, the prime minister appointed Kato Katsunobu as the Work-style Reform Minister. Abe stated that he will set up a council which will discuss labor practice reform under the minister and have the council compile an action plan by March 2017.
The creation of the ministerial post and the council do not mean that Abe made a full commitment to improving workers’ working conditions. In reality, the Abe Cabinet seeks to push forward with pro-business labor policies by excluding labor representatives from the policy-making process.
As labor and management have a conflict of interest, the government is required to ask for advice from the Labor Policy Council (LPC) of the Labor Ministry before making major revisions to labor laws or deciding on new labor policies. The council is a Labor Minister’s advisory panel and consists of representatives from labor, management, and outside experts. This requirement is one of the international standards set by the ILO.
If acknowledging the need for “work-style” reforms and following accepted procedure, the government should just make inquiries to the tripartite council. However, the Abe government set up a new minister and a new council. This is because Abe and the business circles know that it is not easy to pass their proposals through the LPC due to opposition from labor representatives. It is clear that Abe and business leaders are intending to implement measures which allow corporations to force workers to work longer with lower wages and which increase unstable employment.
The Abe government has been seeking to effectively marginalize the LPC in the labor policy-making process. The Abe Cabinet, for example, repeatedly approved labor policies based on proposals by the pro-business Competitiveness Council and the Regulatory Reform Council which have no labor representatives. Then, only after deciding on the policy outline, the Labor Minister consulted with the LPC just to receive a retroactive consent.
The creation of the Working-style Reform Minister is part of Abe’s move to abolish the tripartite policy-making system on labor issues.
