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Strict immigration rules may threaten Japan’s future
Her new country needs her, her new employer adores her, and Joyce Anne Paulino, who landed here 14 months ago knowing not a word of the language, can now say in Japanese that she’d like very much to stay. But Paulino, 31, a nurse from the Philippines, worries about the odds. To stay in Japan…
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Hike in minimum wages
Hourly minimum wages are set to create a society in which all people can earn a living if they work diligently. The Central Minimum Wages Council of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has decided on an average raise of 15 yen in minimum hourly wages set by prefectures. In its manifesto for the…
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The only Filipino nurse to pass Japan’s nursing exam
Ever Lalin, like others in the first batch of 98 nurses and caregivers who went to Japan May last year for a training stint preparatory to taking the Japanese nursing licensure exam, had no prior lessons in the Niponggo language. “Halimaw ah (A monster’s feat),” cheered nurse bloggers when it was announced last March that…
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ＡＬＴ「難」山積み 自治体財政、人材確保、労働環境
教育委員会が「偽装請負」で指導を受ける。そんな事態が後を絶たない。それでも多くの教委が外国語指導助手（ＡＬＴ）の業務委託（請負）を続ける背景には、自治体の厳しい財政事情や人材確保の難しさがある。一方で外国人の相談を受ける労働組合には、ＡＬＴが続々と駆け込む。偽装請負トラブルの火種を抱えたまま、多くの教委が来春、小学校の英語必修化を迎えることになる。
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Average minimum hourly wage to rise 15 yen to 728 yen in Japan
A government advisory panel is expected to recommend Friday that a weighted-average hourly minimum wage in Japan be raised by 15 yen to 728 yen for fiscal 2010 that started in April, government sources said Thursday. The increase would exceed 10 yen for fiscal 2009 and be the fourth consecutive double-digit increase. The government’s growth…
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Japan’s trainee programme ‘human trafficking’: lawyer
A Japanese human rights lawyer Thursday labelled a government-backed foreign trainee programme as a “form of human trafficking”, saying dozens had died from apparent overwork. Japan has invited tens of thousands of foreigners for industrial training programmes as low-wage apprentices, mostly from China, Indonesia and the Philippines, since the 1990s, officially so they can learn…
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英語助手と先生、授業協力したら違法 契約巡り現場混乱
英語の授業中、外国語指導助手（ＡＬＴ）と日本人教員が言葉を交わさない――。ＡＬＴを業者への業務委託（請負）で確保する自治体で、奇妙な授業風景が繰り広げられている。２人が協力して授業に取り組むと「偽装請負」（労働者派遣法違反）となってしまうからだ。ルールを守れずに労働局から指導を受ける教育委員会が相次ぎ、教室で混乱が起きている。
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Wages Rise for Fourth Month on Overtime as Japanese Employers Limit Hiring
Japan’s wages rose for a fourth month as employers had staff work more hours instead of adding to payrolls, a trend that may sustain the recovery without reducing the economy’s reliance on exports to propel growth. Monthly wages including overtime and bonuses increased 1.5 percent in June from a year earlier to 437,677 yen ($5,050),…
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Income Gap Wider As Irregular Workers Rise: Labor Ministry
Japan’s income gap is widening as companies are hiring more irregular workers, the Labor Ministry said Tuesday in its fiscal 2010 report on the country’s labor market. The ministry noted that companies were prompted to hire more irregular workers in light of eased regulations on labor dispatch service. The number of workers earning an annual…
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Dying to work: Japan Inc.’s foreign trainees
“The Industrial Trainees and Technical Interns program often fuels demand for exploitative cheap labor under conditions that constitute violations of the right to physical and mental health, physical integrity, freedom of expression and movement of foreign trainees and interns, and that in some cases may well amount to slavery. This program should be discontinued and…