Dispatch

Management, labor at odds over plans to ban daily-paid temporary staff

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry still faces many hurdles with its plan to toughen regulations on temporary dispatch workers due to the gulf between the opinions of management and labor sides on toughening regulations.

A ministry panel issued a report aimed at reversing the government’s longtime policy of deregulating the dispatch worker system out of concern that the unstable working conditions that emerged as a result have led to social disorder.

The current movement toward tougher regulation was prompted by a decision to order Goodwill Co. to discontinue its business due to illegal practices it engaged in when dispatching workers, and a recent indiscriminate stabbing rampage committed by a dispatch worker in the Akihabara district of central Tokyo.

Ruling camp, opposition split

The ruling and opposition parties have agreed to ban, in principle, the dispatch of daily-paid workers. But they disagree about whether to prohibit the dispatch of temporary staff who do not fall within 26 designated specialist skill categories.

While the ruling parties are cautious about imposing a ban in such cases, the opposition camp insists the ban should apply to these workers, too.

In the 20 years since the Temporary Staffing Services Law was enacted, the number of dispatch workers has skyrocketed about 22-fold to 3.21 million.

In recent years, however, the emergence of a large number of working poor and people reduced to spending nights in Internet cafes to help make ends meet is seen as a serious social problem, and most of these people have been found to be daily-paid dispatch workers. Therefore, the government has had no choice other than to shift toward a toughening of regulations.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080730TDY03303.htm

The government is considering banning staffing firms from dispatching one type of worker to jobs that last 30 days or less to enhance the protection of temporary workers, government sources said Sunday.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry initially planned to prohibit temporary staffing agencies from dispatching registered workers for day-labor jobs by submitting a bill to the Diet later in the year to amend the worker dispatch law.

But the ministry is now seeking to expand the scope of labor contracts banned under the law to include those lasting up to 30 days, the sources said.

The dispatch of registration-type temporary workers has been criticized for promoting harsh and unstable labor conditions as well as substandard pay.

A ministry study group on the dispatch of workers is scheduled to compile a report Monday about measures to strengthen the protection of temporary workers, the sources said.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20080728a3.html

…the shift from permanent employment toward part-time and temporary hiring that emerged during the prolonged economic slump has not been reversed, despite the economic turnaround Japan has seen in the past several years.

Many people who failed to land full-time jobs after college graduation are now stuck in nonregular positions as they grow older.

Unlike regular employees, temporary and part-time workers live under the constant threat of job loss.

Their wages are often too low to live a decent life.

This situation clearly represents a major turnaround in the national labor policy. And the government is finally beginning to look more closely at the way many companies hire workers today.

The debate centers on what to do about this dire situation that temporary workers face, including the much-criticized practice of using day laborers.

But day labor dispatch is not the only problem.

An important question is how to steer many in the swollen ranks of nonpermanent workers into full-time jobs.

What must be done to bring wages and working conditions for nonregular workers closer to those of permanent employees?

Labor groups and management have disagreed bitterly on many of these issues. But all parties concerned must now tackle such tough issues head-on.

In an ideal world, each worker would find fulfillment in job satisfaction and have a sense of security. Such a situation would also offer long-term benefits for companies.

Policy efforts addressing this country’s job situation should be designed to pursue this hopeful vision of employment.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200807240094.html

Corporate efforts to cut labor costs by reducing the number of regular employees and hiring more part-time and dispatch workers are actually stifling productivity and hampering economic growth, a government report said Tuesday.

In its annual white paper on labor and the economy, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare suggested that companies return to Japanese-style, long-term employment with an emphasis on nurturing their work forces and raising the added value per employee.

The ministry called on companies to devise well-planned strategies to hire new graduates and train personnel from a long-term vision.

The white paper for 2008 said such a shift in labor policy would be a key to sustaining economic growth at a time when the population is decreasing.

“Highly productive workers are nurtured through years of a variety of corporate work experiences,” the report said.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200807230084.html

A ruling coalition project team Tuesday compiled a package of recommendations to tighten restrictions on the temp staff industry, including a ban on dispatches of low-skilled day laborers.

The team of the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito submitted the package to Yoichi Masuzoe, the minister of health, labor and welfare, urging him to revise the worker dispatch law during the extraordinary Diet session this fall.

“I expect nonpartisan support for this,” Masuzoe said.

The team said there are various problems in the temp staff system “from the standpoint of protecting workers.”

After the Tokyo Summary Court fined Goodwill and its officials for the double dispatch, Goodwill’s parent company decided to liquidate the subsidiary as early as this month.

The project team also recommended holding companies that accept dispatch workers legally responsible for their safety at work.

In addition, the team suggested regulating dispatches of workers only to companies within the same business group and requiring temp staff agencies to clearly explain the percentage of workers’ wages deducted as a commission.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200807100086.html

The ruling coalition plans to oblige staffing agencies to disclose their commissions and call on client companies to take responsibility for covering temp workers’ compensation insurance, according to a draft plan aimed at reforming the labor dispatch system.

The plan by the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito, revealed Wednesday, also seeks to address the practice of dispatching workers only to group companies.

The plan is set to be finalized at a meeting Tuesday of the ruling parties employment measures task force, which will ask the Health, Labor and Welfare Minister Yoichi Masuzoe to revise the Temporary Staffing Services Law, sources said.

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry is then expected to submit a bill to revise the law to an extraordinary Diet session, likely to be convened in the autumn.

The draft revision plan stipulates measures aimed at achieving three goals:

— Stabilizing employment and ensuring better working conditions for temp workers.

— Making labor dispatch businesses fairer.

— Tackling illegal dispatch practices.

Staffing agencies receive a payment from their client companies for dispatching workers and pay temp workers this amount minus expenses, social insurance fees and commission, among other costs. However, many of the agencies have not disclosed their cut.

This has drawn criticism, with some people suspecting the staffing agencies have exploited temp workers and are getting them to work for lower wages.

In light of this, the ruling parties have included in the draft plan a measure calling for the disclosure of information, including dispatch firms’ cuts, the sources said. By revealing how much commission the staffing agencies take, the ruling parties hope the margins will be adjusted to more appropriate levels, and dispatched workers can use the disclosed information when they select staffing agencies they want to register with.

Regarding the practice of outsourcing workers only to group companies, the draft plan calls for appropriate regulations, such as introducing a cap on the number of workers that staffing agencies are allowed to send to group companies.

The ruling parties say in the draft plan that such practices can adversely affect the treatment of workers.

The draft plan also calls for a measure that would force companies using temp workers to share legal responsibility for them with dispatch agencies, a move the lawmakers believe would help reduce the number of work-related accidents.

Under the current law, even though dispatched workers are involved in accidents at work, client companies are not required to share the costs of workers’ compensation insurance for temp workers.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20080703TDY01305.htm

A ruling coalition task force agreed Wednesday that temp staff agencies should be banned from dispatching workers on a single-day basis, a practice criticized for spawning the “working poor” phenomenon and exacerbating social disparities, lawmakers said.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and junior coalition partner New Komeito plan to recommend ways of amending the worker dispatch law so that the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry can draft a bill to outlaw the practice and submit it to the Diet during the extra session expected to be convened around late August.

The task force also wants to oblige staffing agencies to charge public fees for temp worker dispatches to reduce their profit margin, they said.

The practice of daily-basis dispatches seems to involve mostly younger people who have registered at temp staff agencies and go to perform work at businesses when summoned by phone or e-mail.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20080703a2.html

“We are like rental products that are shipped to clients as needed.” These words, spoken by a 39-year-old man who barely gets by as a dispatch day laborer, appeared on The Asahi Shimbun’s lifestyle page. What business makes a man in his prime utter such a self-deprecating comment?

Goodwill Inc., a major temp agency, is set to be dissolved. The company received a summary indictment for dispatching temp workers to a client, knowing that it would then dispatch them to other firms, an illegal practice known as double dispatching.

It is also being sued by workers in a group lawsuit for questionable deductions of part of their pay. Apparently, the company’s “goodwill” stops at its name.

Day laborers who register with temp agencies as dispatch workers are sent to various work sites on a daily basis with a single cellphone message.

The method can be likened to a workforce small-lot sale, where double dispatching is the resale of that workforce. Agencies take advantage of the vulnerability of “jobless” workers and use them as a flexible workforce they can “hire and fire” at will. They also send people to dangerous work sites without informing them of the risks.

Some individuals may see this arrangement as a way to earn pocket money on days off. But given that workers are being treated as expendable resources, it is natural for others to call for a ban on the day labor dispatch system itself. There is no way an economy supported by exploitation of the weak can continue indefinitely.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200806270066.html

Double-dispatch arrests trigger firm’s liquidation

Goodwill Group said Wednesday it will close its scandal-tainted temp staff unit Goodwill Inc. by the end of July because the health ministry is preparing to revoke its business license.

Goodwill Inc. said it will ask its clients to directly hire its temp staff assets or ask other temp staff firms to take them on by the end of next month.

Meanwhile, the company’s 4,200 or so full-time employees will be asked to quit, it said, adding that the group is unable to transfer them internally because of financial problems.

Goodwill Inc. President Kazuaki Nakamoto will resign when the firm is liquidated to take responsibility for the closure. The other board members will quit on Monday.

The announcement came a day after the Tokyo Summary Court ordered the staffing agency to pay ¥1 million in fines for dispatching temp workers to companies that sent them on to work at other firms ? a practice known as double-dispatch, which is banned by the Employment Security Law. Goodwill paid the fine Tuesday.

Double-dispatch is prohibited because it blurs the legal responsibilities for worker safety and other aspects of the working environment.

In the past several years, Japanese companies have been hiring more temporary workers to cut personnel costs. But this has led to an increase in the so-called working poor, especially among the younger generations.

“Workers at Goodwill are switching to other agencies and are dispatched in a similarly illegal manner,” Sekine said. “The problem will not end just by revoking Goodwill’s license.”

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20080626a1.html

A Tokyo employment agency and its president face charges for evading approximately 120 million yen in consumption tax, taxation authorities said.

The Tokyo Regional Taxation Bureau filed accusations with prosecutors against Tokyo Business Corp. (TBC) and its president, 82-year-old Shigemi Ikari, on suspicion of violating the Consumption Tax Law.

TBC under-reported the amount of consumption tax it was supposed to pay by about 120 million yen over a three-year period up to March 2007, taxation officials said.

TBS dispatches computer engineers to financial institutions and computer companies to help them develop programs. The company has increased its sales over the past five years by 30 percent, and its sale figure came to over 2.2 billion yen in the business year of 2007, according to a credit research agency.

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080618p2a00m0sp028000c.html