In the keynote speech, Michel Temman, Japan representative for Reporters Without Borders, the Paris-based defender of the freedom of the press, criticized the exclusive nature of Japan’s journalism culture.
Temman said the “press club” system, set up in government offices and political party headquarters where only major media organizations are allowed to join, hinders foreign and freelance journalists from gathering information.
“Despite harsh criticism from foreign correspondents and other foreign organizations, the Japanese government shows no interest in reforming this archaic system,” Temman said.
Ex-NOVA teachers file complaint about getting laid off by new owners
About 20 foreign language teachers formerly employed by NOVA Corp. filed a complaint with a labor standards inspection office here on Friday, claiming that they were illegally fired by the companies that took over the failed language school chain.
“Unfair dismissal!” chanted the former NOVA teachers as they joined a prep rally held by [Tokyo Nambu sister union] the General Union in front of the Osaka Chuo Labor Standards Inspection Office in Osaka’s Chuo-ku on Friday before they filed the complaint with the office.
Nagoya-based G.communication Group bought out NOVA after it filed for protection from creditors in October last year, leaving NOVA under bankruptcy proceedings.
However, G.communication Group fired about 800 former NOVA teachers at the end of December, overturning an earlier agreement in November that the company would in principle hire all the former NOVA teachers who wanted to work for the new employer, according to the General Union.
Furthermore, the company refused to renew employment contracts for about 200 other teachers, leaving more than 1,000 teachers unemployed. The dismissed teachers claim that the company violated the Labor Standards Law.
“The company violated the law in that it did not sign employment contracts with the teachers when they started working in November. The company’s dismissal procedures also breach the law in that it notified the teachers of their dismissal via e-mail and without notice,” said a representative of the General Union.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080215p2a00m0na014000c.html
Police targeting ex-Nova president
Police are investigating the former president of the now-bankrupt language school chain Nova Corp. for possible breach of trust over a project that brought profits to an affiliate he controlled, sources said.
Nozomu Sahashi, 56, is suspected of having paid exorbitant prices for a server used in video-phone hookups for language lessons, sources said.
Police suspect he used his position to reap profits for his affiliated company, although the deal resulted in about a 500-million-yen loss to Nova, the sources said.
Investigators are trying to determine if Sahashi can be held for aggravated breach of trust stipulated under the corporate law, they said.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200802130084.html
Employees win suit against Tochigi farms for unpaid wages, unfair dismissals
A group of strawberry farmers will have to pay a combined 30 million yen in unpaid and overtime wages, and reinstate five Chinese trainees [members of Tokyo Nambu allies Zentoitsu Workers Union] who were unfairly dismissed after losing a class action suit brought against them by their employees.
The farmers have also acknowledged that they took away some of the trainees’ passports and forced them to save their wages: which, if proved, would constitute an illegal act, barring the farmers from accepting future trainees, according to the Ministry of Justice.
The trouble began when the Choboen strawberry farm in Tsuga dismissed five Chinese trainees in December last year because of a poor harvest, and attempted to force them to go back to their home country.
The five joined 10 trainees at six other strawberry farms in demanding 52.25 million yen in unpaid wages and overtime allowances over the past three years.
The owners of the seven farms have apologized for forcing the trainees to work for long hours and paying overtime allowances below the legal minimum. They agreed to pay a total of about 30 million yen to the 15, and Choboen retracted its dismissals.
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/national/news/20080211p2a00m0na009000c.html
Teachers win lost pay over ‘Kimigayo’
The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered the Tokyo Metropolitan Government to pay ¥27.5 million in lost wages to 13 former high school teachers who were denied postretirement re-employment because they refused to sing the national anthem.
The teachers had been reprimanded between November 2003 and March 2005 for disobeying a metropolitan directive issued in October 2003 that requires all teachers to stand and sing “Kimigayo” while facing the Hinomaru flag during official school ceremonies.
In bringing the suit, they had argued that being denied re-employment contracts was an illegitimate form of retribution by the metropolitan board of education and demanded combined compensation of ¥72.6 million for “emotional distress.”
Presiding Judge Shigeru Nakanishi ruled that the denial of re-employment, based solely on the teachers’ choice not to sing the anthem, was severely lacking in “justifiable reasoning.”
Japan to Extend Visa Limit to Five Years From Three, NHK Says
Japan plans to extend long-term visa permits to five years from the current three when it changes the registration system for foreigners living in Japan, public broadcaster NHK reported.
The Justice Ministry also plans to simplify the re-entry process for returning foreign residents, NHK reported on its English-language Web site, without saying where it obtained the information.
The government plans a new registration system for foreign residents that requires them to report a change of address to local government offices and requires schools and organizations that sponsor foreigners to update their information.
Legislation for the changes is expected by the end of March to be submitted to parliament next year, NHK said.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=a8kewymPpSIg
McDonald’s told to pay overtime to manager
McDonald’s Co. (Japan) on Monday was ordered to pay 7.5 million yen to a branch manager who had often worked more than 100 hours of overtime a month without being paid.
In a landmark ruling, the Tokyo District Court agreed with the argument of Hiroshi Takano, 46, that the fast-food giant’s policy of making outlet managers ineligible for overtime pay violates the Labor Standards Law.
[McDonald’s manager] Takano joined McDonald’s in 1987 and started working long hours in 2004 after he became manager of an outlet that had no other regular full-time workers under the company’s cost-cutting policy.
He clocked in around 5 a.m., and his overtime hours totaled up to 137 hours a month, Takano said.
The hard work caused Takano to suffer a minor stroke in April 2005, prompting him to sue his company, he said.
http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200801290098.html
McDonald’s ‘manager’ wants ‘human’ life
[McDonald’s manager Hiroshi Takano] became especially busy after being transferred to an outlet in Higashi-Matsuyama in July 2004. He had no permanent staff working under him, and was in sole charge of operations there. A worker he trusted moved to a different outlet in December that year, leaving Takano to take on a number of extra duties.
Throughout that month, Takano, went into work just after 6 a.m. every day to take charge of preparing food and serving customers. Although he could take the odd nap and eat lunch, he also had to train part-time workers and deal with the takings, meaning that he was working daily until about midnight.
Working conditions also were tough at his current outlet in Kumagaya in the prefecture after he moved there in February 2005. One part-time worker was admitted to hospital for exhaustion due to overwork, and Takano often had to work to cover staff shortages.
Takano had to answer to a consultant, who issued instructions on managing outlets, and a general manager, who was in overall control. They constantly made demands, such as asking Takano to reduce personnel costs.
Takano began to feel his hands going numb and a doctor warned him that he was a candidate for a stroke.
Takano began to feel that his life was in danger.
However, no company labor union existed at the time, and so Takano joined a union for managers in the Tokyo area in May 2005.
He filed the lawsuit against the company that December.
The lawsuit was one factor that prompted the establishment of a McDonald’s labor union–one that managers of outlets could also join.
“It wasn’t about money. [Takano] wanted the hardships in the working conditions of managers to be recognized. It was almost a complete victory,” his lawyer said. “This is the first ruling that clearly shows the work of outlet managers across the country isn’t management work at all.”
McDonald’s ordered to pay overtime to outlet manager
The Tokyo District Court on Monday ordered McDonald’s Co. (Japan) Ltd. to pay more than 7.5 million yen in unpaid overtime wages to the manager of an outlet in Saitama Prefecture, saying the man is not considered to actually be in a managerial position.
Presiding Judge Iwao Saito said McDonald’s outlet managers’ discretion is limited within outlets and the position is not considered a managerial post that integrally works with company owners.
Observers say the ruling is significant in that it would impact about 1,700 managers of the hamburger chain’s direct-run outlets and other management-labor disputes. Similar lawsuits have been filed by managers of chain bookstores and moneylenders, but this is the first ruling that would affect such a large number of employees of a single company.
Hiroshi Takano, the manager of McDonald’s 125 Kumagaya outlet in Kumagaya, Saitama Prefecture, was seeking about 13.5 million yen as compensation for two years of unpaid overtime plus damages.
Joining the company in 1987, Takano was promoted to outlet manager in 1999.
As outlet manager, Takano, 46, still has to work from early morning until late at night, cooking and attending to customers. Though his overtime exceeded 100 hours some months, the company stopped paying overtime wages, claiming that Takano was in a managerial position.
The issue in contention in the suit was whether McDonald’s outlet managers are considered to be in corporate managerial positions.
The Labor Standards Law obliges employers to pay overtime for those who have worked longer than eight hours a day or 40 hours per week, and on holidays. However, the stipulation is not applied to “those in managerial or supervisory positions.”
Japanese fluency could ease visa conditions
SKILLED FOREIGN WORKERS TARGETED
Conditions for resident visa status of skilled foreign workers such as engineers may be relaxed if they attain a certain level of proficiency in Japanese, government sources said Monday.
The measures, including shortening the required number of years of work experience required, are being considered both to increase the variety of foreign workers being accepted in Japan and to encourage more foreigners to study Japanese, the sources said.
The relaxed conditions would be applicable to foreigners who want to enter Japan for specialist or technical jobs, they said.