Japan Press Weekly

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2008 November 5 - 11 [LABOR]

Large corporations unilaterally stop hiring temporary workers

Large corporations are reducing their workforces, in particular the number of temporary workers they keep, on the grounds that their exports are declining.

In the auto industry, the Toyota group’s Toyota Motor Kyushu, Denso, and Toyota Industries announced plans to cut the number of temporary workers. Toyota Motor Corp. will fire 5,800 fixed-term workers by the end of next March.

Nissan Motor Co., Ltd, Suzuki Motor Corp., and Mazda Motor Corp. have also announced layoff plans.

In large corporations, full-time workers are also being forced to accept voluntary redundancy plans that include forced early retirement.

Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd. says that it will cut 300 managerial jobs due to “workforce redundancy.”

These companies say that they are experiencing declines in profits. However, the Toyota group is expected to earn 60 million yen in consolidated profits.

Big business still maintains the power to earn big profits.

Temporary workers do not receive any severance pay. In most cases, they are not paid unemployment benefits because companies do not pay for the employment insurance. Those temporary workers living in any company dormitories will lose a place to live in if they lose their jobs.

The National Confederation of Trade Unions (Zenroren) and the People’s Spring Struggle Joint Committee are developing the movement to “urge large corporations to fulfill their corporate social responsibility.”

The Japanese Communist Party calls for a nationwide struggle to urge large corporations to fulfill their responsibility to provide job security.