Whistle-blowing systems feeble at the local level

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Only 20 percent of the 47 prefectural governments and 15 major cities across Japan have third-party points to accept calls from whistle-blowers, an Asahi Shimbun survey showed.

Many other local governments have contact points concurrently managed by local government officials in charge of general affairs. But these contact points are rarely used, meaning that the system to prevent corruption in politics is not functioning properly, the survey found.

The whistle-blower protection law took effect in April this year, banning company and government officials from taking punitive action, such as dismissals, against employees who report illicit activities.

But fears of repercussions abound, particularly in governments that control the whistle-blower system.

“If one is to report wrongdoing under his or her own name, the name will be inevitably leaked and will be identified in the prefectural government,” said an official who once worked in the secretarial section of the Wakayama prefectural government, the site of a recent bid-rigging scandal that forced the governor to resign.

The official said if calls are made anonymously, they will simply be filed as “rumors.”

“We can’t do anything about it unless there is a third-party entity,” the official said.

Two prefectures, including Fukushima Prefecture, where a former governor was recently arrested over another bid-rigging scandal, and one city have no whistle-blowing systems whatsoever, the survey showed.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200612230134.html

Nambu neunzehn, Nova null

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Twenty union members gathered in front of NOVA Ikebukuro school on Sunday to show support for striking teachers at the company. Strikers included a majority of the German department in Ikebukuro, effectively shutting down lessons for the afternoon.

NOVA’s ekimae location was a perfect spot to get our message out to the public, and hundreds of passers-by took leaflets, or stopped to read the signs held by picketers.

The union is demanding job security, and the reinstatement of members who were “non-renewed” after as many as 13 years with the company.

A mobile, disposable work force

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Indications of deteriorating working conditions are coming to light at workplaces across the nation as the result of a practice that has become a social issue: More and more manufacturing companies are bringing in contract workers (ukeoi) to have them work like temporary workers (haken) — as if dispatched from staffing agencies — but without haken benefits.

For laymen, the legal difference between these two types of workers is a bit hard to understand.

But the practice not only is illegal and responsible for low wages — usually about half or less of regular-employee wages — but also leads to worker instability. Companies should quit the habit, and the labor standards inspection offices should crack down on violators.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/shukan-st/jteds/ed20061110.htm

Japan ranks 79th in global report on gender gap

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Japan ranked 79th in a global report measuring women’s achievements in key areas, the Swiss-based World Economic Forum said Tuesday. Nordic countries topped the list, with Sweden considered to be a country with the smallest gender gap. Sweden was followed by Norway, Finland and Iceland. The rest of the top 10 countries were Germany, the Philippines, New Zealand, Denmark, Britain and Ireland.

The report measured the extent to which women in the polled countries and regions have achieved equality with men in four areas ? economic participation and opportunity, education attainment, political empowerment, and health and survival. Japan placed first in health and survival along with 34 other nations with the same level of well-being index, but was 83rd in both economic opportunity and political empowerment, bringing the overall ranking to 79th.

Factory denies Muslim basic human rights

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A sewing factory in eastern Japan required an Indonesian Muslim trainee to sign a note promising to forgo praying five times a day and Ramadan fasting as a condition of her employment, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Monday.

The firm also prohibited her from owning a cell phone and exchanging letters.

The Justice Ministry suspect the firm’s practice infringes on the woman’s human rights in violation of its guidelines for accepting trainees, which is based on the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Law, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

According to the note written both in Japanese and Indonesian, the factory prohibited the woman from worshipping on the firm’s property and fasting while in Japan.

She was also prohibited from exchanging letters domestically, sending money to her family or traveling in vehicles.

In addition, she had a curfew of 9 p.m. at her dormitory and was not allowed to invite friends there.

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061205TDY02007.htm

Gov’t looks to open up pension plan to part-time workers

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The ruling coalition and government are discussing the possibility of allowing part-timers who work for an employer for more than a certain period to join the pension system, sources said.

Currently, companies are obliged to pay a half of pension premiums for their part-time employees who work more than 30 hours a week [sic].

Earlier, officials of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare tried to make some 3 million people eligible for the pension system by cutting the required hours of work to more than 20 hours a week. But those in the distribution industry, which employ many part-timers, were so vehemently opposed to the plan that the ministry dropped the idea.

But now Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reportedly wants to allow more people to join the pension plan, prompting government and ruling coalition officials to discuss the idea of allowing part-timers who work for a certain period, probably more than one year, to join the system.

Under the idea, part-timers who work more than 20 hours a week for less than 12 months will probably be excluded from the pension system, sources said.

Currently, companies are required to pay half of pension premiums for full-time employees who work more than two months for a company.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20061114p2a00m0na006000c.html

Chinese trainees flee poor work conditions

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Three Chinese women working in a training program fled their workplace in Aomori Prefecture early Monday and contacted labor authorities to complain of poor conditions, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned.

The trainees came to Japan two years ago and have worked at a small sewing factory in Misawa in the prefecture.

The three women complained of working 13 hours a day, with their overtime pay falling short of the stipulated minimum wage, and rarely being allowed to use heaters even in midwinter at the company dormitory, which is a refurbished garage.

The three told the Yomiuri they could not bear the situation any longer with winter approaching.

Just after 5 a.m., the three trainees, each carrying an overnight bag, ran from the dormitory in front of the factory to a car driven by a member of a Fukui-based organization supporting foreign workers.

About two months before, the three telephoned the organization, after reading about it in a Chinese newspaper, and made plans to flee.

One of the trainees, a 32-year-old woman from Shanghai, said: “I came to Japan to earn money. I’ve been a migrant worker at sewing plants in Saipan and the United Arab Emirates, but I wasn’t treated this badly.”

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061114TDY02009.htm

Firms face foreign hire disclosure

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The government plans to make it mandatory, and no longer voluntary, that all companies in Japan report details about noncitizens when employing or dismissing them, in order to prevent an increase in illegal employment, officials said Thursday.

The details will include the names, nationalities and visa status and duration. Employers who fail to make such reports or file false reports may be fined up to 300,000 yen. The Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare will draft an employment promotion law amendment to this effect to submit to the Diet during the ordinary session in the first half of next year, they said.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20061103a3.html

Hello Work violated temp staff law

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Sixteen Hello Work job-placement offices under the jurisdiction of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry’s Osaka Labor Bureau have allowed employees from two organizations to engage in work performed by Hello Work offices, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Tuesday.

The employees of the Employment and Human Resources Development Organization of Japan (EHDO), an independent administrative institution in Yokohama, and the Association of Employment Development for Senior Citizens (JEED) in Tokyo, reportedly engaged in such duties as reception work and counseling for job-seekers on behalf of the Hello Work employees.

Treating employees from the two organizations as temporary workers for Hello Work without any contracts violates the Temporary Staffing Services Law. However, it has become a common practice…Hiroyuki Ito, of the bureau’s employment security section, said the incident was regrettable because office employees lack awareness of the law, although they work for public offices responsible for labor issues.  

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061101TDY02012.htm

Japan must do more to accept, aid refugees: U.S. NGO reps

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… Japan granted refugee status to 46 asylum- seekers in 2005, a record high since 1983.

Although this pales in comparison with the approximately 70,000 admitted as refugees and granted asylum by the U.S. in 2005, [Jana] Mason [deputy director of government relations for International Rescue Committee, a major U.S. nongovernmental organization] called the number a considerable step forward for Japan, which had granted refugee status to only 49 people during the entire 1990s.

According to Mason, the appropriate number of refugees a country should admit must be based on its size and population as well as the number of applicants. But there is no magic number, and it is estimated there are 11 million refugees worldwide.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20061028f2.html