In February of 2006, the Kanagawa Board of Education informed all of its 89 Assistant Language Teachers that their contracts would not be renewed, and that the Board would instead be signing a contract with Interac to fill their jobs. Some teachers were offered the chance to keep their jobs, albeit with a new employer and a 15% cut in wages. Some took it, others decided to fight, and the case is now being heard at the Kanagawa Labour Relations Board.

Outsourcing by Boards of Education is an increasing problem throughout Japan, and is just one of the negative trends in the language industry. The teachers, members of NUGW Kanagawa, ask for your support.

If you are free at 5:30 on Wednesday, August 30th, please attend the meeting of the Labour Relations Board, at the Kanagawa Labor Office. The building is a 10-minute walk from Kannai station, through the�Yokohama stadium grounds and past the Board of education building, turn right in front of the main post office and left at the next corner. It’s the second building� on the left, next to an office supplies shop.

Map: http://www.pref.kanagawa.jp/osirase/tihosomu/tiroi/zu.htm

The hearing usually lasts about 25� minutes or so. Anyone wishing to attend can contact Bill at: stakeschamp AT yahoo DOT com

For more information, see this website: www.kanagawapft.org

According to the Asahi article, the labor bureaus have been sending warnings to such companies for at least two years. The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry conducted a survey in 2004 and estimated that there were 870,000 ukeoi laborers in Japan at the time. What’s more, most of the workers who replied to the survey were under the impression that they were temp workers, not contracted workers. When I read this a red flag went up in my mind. Two years? More than 300 companies and 870,000 workers? Why is this news now? Why wasn’t it news last year?

Actually, it was. It’s just that the media covering it don’t answer to advertisers. The muckraking weekly Shukan Kinyobi has mentioned giso ukeoi in its coverage of labor disputes, and the Communist Party organ Akahata has made something of a crusade out of the issue. In addition, there are blogs and Internet Web sites that have talked about the problem. There’s even one in English.

�http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fd20060827pb.html

Some firms have neglected their legal requirement to report job-related accidents involving contract temporary workers to the labor authority. Others have left such workers without social security coverage. The practice must be stopped. But simply treating these workers fairly as temporary workers, as they actually are, won’t be enough. Employers should consider offering permanent jobs to as many of them as possible.�

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608260115.html

On May 18, 2006, a little discussed and little debated law passed the Diet.

With changes modeled on the “U.S. Visit” system set up in 2003, the Immigration Control Law was amended to require that, from November 2007, all foreigners (except “special” permanent residents) be photographed and fingerprinted upon entering the country.

The law has sparked concern among the international community in Japan, as well as with the Japan Federation of Bar Associations, which believes the amendments to the law are unconstitutional.

While the Justice Ministry does appear to be adopting a flexible, open approach to the terms of implementation, some government officials have described the law as “dumb” and “poorly thought-out.”

Others admit they’ve never even heard of it.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20060822zg.html

Japanese employers increasingly are taking advantage of a program to teach job skills to foreign workers by paying them well under the minimum wage for overtime work, according to the Justice Ministry.

In one particularly egregious case, foreign trainees were paid a paltry 350 yen per hour for overtime even though the minimum wage was 651 yen.

In 2005, a total of 180 such instances were reported to the Justice Ministry. The figure for the first seven months of this year already stands at 125, officials said.

In many cases, employers failed to pay even the minimum wage to interns for overtime work. In some cases, employers forced trainees to learn job skills at workplaces not authorized by the ministry, officials said.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608170258.html