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