Japan Press Weekly

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2008 October 1 - 7 [LABOR]

Former fixed-term Canon employee asks court to issue injunctions against his dismissal

A former fixed-term worker at Canon is demanding revocation of his dismissal.

On October 1, 29-year-old temporary worker Miyata Yuji, a member of Canon’s contingent workers’ union, filed a lawsuit with the Tokyo District Court demanding an injunction against his dismissal.

In the petition submitted to the court, Miyata pointed out that Canon abused their power in dismissing himself and demanded that the court declare his dismissal null and void on the grounds that there was an “implicit labor contract” between Canon and him.

Canon fired Miyata on the grounds that his skills did not meet the company’s needs.

But Miyata in the petition insisted that he is a skilled engineer and that it was unreasonable for the company to dismiss him for incompetence and pointed out that the dismissal was illegal retaliation for his whistle-blowing about the company’s illegal use of temporary workers disguised as independent contractors.

Miyata was sent to Canon’s Utsunomiya Optical Products Plant in Tochigi Prefecture from a staffing agency in March 2006.

In October, he filed a complaint with the Tochigi Labor Bureau against Canon for its illegal use of temporary workers as “disguised independent contractors”.

Since October 2007 when the Tochigi Labor Bureau recognized Canon’s illegal use of temporary workers, Miyata and his fellow workers were employed directly by Canon as fixed-term workers on contracts for up to 35 months.

Miyata and his union continued to urge Canon to offer them full-time positions if Canon promised to end its illegal use of temporary workers.

Canon rejected their demand.

At a news conference on October 1, Miyata said, “I refuse to suffer in silence. I want to raise my voice loudly and do all I can do.”

Miyata’s lawyer, Kuboki Ryosuke said, “This isn’t a case of one worker. More similar dismissals can take place. We will socially embarrass companies that don’t stop their illegal use of temporary workers.”