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