The Japan Labor Flash No.66
Email Journal August 1, 2006
Statistical Reports
Main Labor Economic Indicators
Current Topics
In 2007 Wage Negotiations, Denki Rengo Shifts Its Emphasis to Pay
-Hike Demands by Occupation
For the First Time Tokyo and Kumamoto District Courts Rule the State
Liable for Reparations for Pneumoconiosis due to Tunnel Construction
Public Policies
Increasing Number of Problems and Complaints by National Civil Servants
MHLW Discloses the Names of Companies Failing to Improve the Hiring
Status of Workers with Disabilities
News Clippings
JTB Markets Software to Assist Personnel Management by Monitoring
Working Schedules and Issuing Warnings of Overwork
Nojima to Cover All Expenses of Certifications for Dispatched Sales
Workers
Special Issue
The Labor-Management Consultation System at a Turning Point
Statistical Reports
-Main Labor Economic Indicators-
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/estatis/eshuyo/200608/index.htm
Current Topics
-In 2007 Wage Negotiations, Denki Rengo Shifts Its Emphasis to Pay
-Hike Demands by Occupation-
At its regular conference held on July 6 and 7 in Hiroshima City,
Denki Rengo (the Japanese Electrical Electronic & Information Union)
determined its campaign policies for the coming two years, including
an emphasis on pay-hike demands by occupation starting at next year's
spring joint wage negotiations.
In his address, Chairperson Nakamura of Denki Rengo declared that,
from the 2007 wage negotiations onward, unions affiliated to the
industry union would demand pay hikes according to job types. "We
would like," he stated, "to work out a wage formulation method
for
each job type regardless of the company that individual workers work
for: cross-company first within the electric industry, and cross-sector
in the future in society as a whole." He also said, "This shift
in our
approach should lead to the correction of disparities between large
unions, and mid-ranking, small and medium-sized unions, and between
regular and non-regular employees."
-For the First Time Tokyo and Kumamoto District Courts Rule the State
Liable for Reparations for Pneumoconiosis due to Tunnel Construction-
According to Kyodo News, on July 7 the Tokyo District Court gave
its verdict on a lawsuit filed by a group of workers who worked for
mainly state-backed tunnel construction projects and subsequently
suffered from pneumoconiosis, and by relatives of the deceased,
demanding 3.3 million yen per person from the state. The presiding
judge recognized the country's liability, saying that it had failed
to institute proper regulations to prevent the disease, and ordered
the government to pay a total of 69.3 million yen (550,000 yen - 2.2
million yen per plaintiff) to 44 out of the 49 plaintiffs in 19
prefectures.
This was the first verdict, but similar pneumoconiosis-related
lawsuits have been filed by tunnel workers and their relatives at
another ten district courts across the country.
On July 13, the Kumamoto District Court made a ruling on a lawsuit
filed by 196 plaintiffs from seven prefectures in Kyushu, and Okinawa
and Yamaguchi prefectures. The presiding judge ordered the state to
pay approximately 0.26 billion yen, saying that the fact that the
state had not exercised its powers to prevent pneumoconiosis since
April 1960, when the Pneumoconiosis Law was enacted, was extremely
unjustifiable, and it must be held accountable.
On July 19, the government appealed the court ruling.
US$=114yen (August 1, 2006)
Public Policies
-Increasing Number of Problems and Complaints by National Civil
Servants-
On July 7, the National Personnel Authority (NPA) reported on
the nature of problems and complaints about the workplace sent from
national civil servants in fiscal year 2005. The number of cases
reported totaled a record high, 1,322, an increase of 347 from the
previous fiscal year. Many cases came from ministries and government
agencies which have a large number of staff members and regional
outpost agencies. Of 741 cases newly reported, the largest number,
134 cases (18.1% of the total), were, as in fiscal year 2004, from
personnel of the Ministry of Justice, followed by 94 cases (12.7%)
from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare; 79 cases (10.7%)
from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport; 40 cases
(5.4%) from the Social Insurance Agency; 39 cases (5.3%) from the
National Tax Agency; 36 cases (4.9%) from the Ministry of Agriculture,
Forestry and Fisheries of Japan; and 23 cases (3.1%) from the Japan
Coast Guard. Four hundred and thirty-nine (439) complaints (59.3%)
were made by men and 250 (33.7%) by women; and 158 cases (21.3%)
pertained to working hours or holidays; 157 cases (21.1%) to personnel
reallocation or resignation; 116 cases (15.7%) to bullying or harassment;
90 cases (12.1%) to health or safety; 86 cases (11.6%) to salaries;
and 45 cases (6.1%) to sexual harassment. Contact methods included:
326 cases (44.0%) reported by telephone; 67 cases (9.0%) by personal
interview; 56 cases (7.6%) by mail; and 292 cases (39.4%) by e-mail.
Where the 741 new cases reported are concerned, the counseling desk
of NPA dealt with 85 cases (78.9%) by simply providing explanations
or advice to the persons reporting problems or complaints; 105 cases
(14.2%) by passing on the details of problems or complaints to the
ministries or agencies in question, or calling on them to investigate;
and the remaining 51 cases (6.9%) by other methods. Apart from its
counseling desk, NPA holds liaison conferences with individual agencies
and ministries and provides training programs for counselors aimed
at smoother handling of problems and complaints.
-MHLW Discloses the Names of Companies Failing to Improve the Hiring
Status of Workers with Disabilities-
On June 30, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published a
list of companies which had failed to increase the number of disabled
employees, even though they had been given special instructions based
on regulations stipulated in the Employment Promotion Act for People
with Disabilities. The companies whose names have been published are
Ryomo Maruzen Co., Ltd. (Ashikaga City, Tochigi Prefecture), a retailer
of oil products, and "With Us" Co., Ltd. (Osaka City), an administrator
of prep schools.
The Ministry issues special instructions when it judges that companies
failed to increase their hiring of people with disabilities during the
three-year period allowed for improvement, according to an administrative
order to draw up a hiring plan. The employment rate of people with
disabilities of the two companies has hovered at around 0.7 percent,
less than half the prescribed employment rate of 1.8%.
News Clippings
-JTB Markets Software to Assist Personnel Management by Monitoring
Working Schedules and Issuing Warnings of Overwork-
JTB Motivations Inc., a motivation consulting company, has begun
sales of software developed jointly with Legal Literacy Inc.,
a personnel management consulting company.
The company says that this software can help realize appropriate
personnel and shift management by, for example, issuing timely warnings
to companies about overwork among employees, based on the work schedules
which the companies supervise and require employees to submit on a
daily basis.
The software is especially designed for food and drink chains,
amusement facilities and other businesses managing shifts of a large
number of part-time workers. It aims at helping shop and store managers
handle their staff so as to improve the latter's working conditions,
job satisfaction, the job separation rate, and heightening their
motivation towards corporate compliance as well.
(Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun and Nikkei Press Release, July)
-Nojima to Cover All Expenses of Certifications for Dispatched Sales
Workers-
Nojima Corp., a medium-sized volume retailer of consumer electronics,
is to adopt a scheme providing sales "helpers" dispatched by
its
business partners with the funds to pay for obtaining certification
as qualified sales workers, bookkeepers, etc. The company's aim is
to enhance customer service through boosting the morale of workers.
It is probably rare, even in the industry, for a company to assist
workers acquire certification even though they are not directly
employed by the company.
Nojima will provide subsidies of approximately 30 thousand yen per
person for correspondence and other courses, and examination fees
if they pass the exams. The scheme has already been adopted for regular
employees, so the company sees the latest expansion of the scope of
the scheme as a way to address the gap in treatment among workers.
Nojima Group has approximately 540 helpers, as many as its regular
employees. It expects 500 workers, including regular employees, to
acquire one or more qualifications each year.
(Nihon Keizai Shimbun, July)
Special Issue
-The Labor-Management Consultation System at a Turning Point-
In Japan, unlike the case of collective bargaining, there are no
legal regulations for the labor-management consultation system whereby
employers and workers, on an equal footing and on an everyday basis,
discuss management, production, labor conditions, welfare programs
and various other issues in which both sides have a shared interest.
The labor-management consultation system - a method which facilitates
dialogue with management while respecting workers' views - has now
been adopted by firms with no labor unions, contributing greatly to
the development of the economy and industry in Japan.
Continued on;
http://www.jil.go.jp/english/archives/emm/2003/no.66/66_si.html
