Japan Press Weekly

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2020 April 22 - May 12 [POLITICS]

Opposition parties jointly propose bill to increase wages of nursing-care workers

The Japanese Communist Party, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, and the Democratic Party for the People on May 8 jointly submitted to the House of Representatives a bill to improve working conditions of workers at facilities for the elderly and people with disabilities.

The bill is designed to implement special measures to enable nursing-care and welfare service providers to hire enough workers by providing subsidies to them if they offer a pay increase of 10,000 yen to their workers. The funding necessary for this program will be entirely covered by the national government, according to the three parties. The bill is an upgraded version of a bill that was jointly proposed by the opposition parties in 2018.

Along with this bill, the opposition parties on the day also submitted to the Lower House two other bills to improve social welfare programs.

After the submission of the bill, CDPJ lawmaker Yamahana Ikuo said to the press that workers in the nursing-care industry earn less than those in other industries while working with a high risk of being exposed to the coronavirus at their workplaces. He underscored the need to increase the wages of workers in this industry.

JCP representative Takahashi Chizuko pointed out that nursing-care and social welfare facilities are facing both the risk of COVID-19 infection and severe financial difficulties. She stressed that the enactment of the bill is essential as these facilities are on the verge of collapse.