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Lessons in Japan’s labor laws from striking NPB baseball stars and English teachers
Eleven years ago, baseball players walked off the field in protest for the first time in the seven-decade professional history of the game in Japan. Owners wanted to consolidate two of the dozen pro teams, without offering a replacement. Players opposed the merger and were outraged that they had been kept out of the decision-making…
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The 100 hour work week in Japan
By Justine Underhill At 3 a.m. on Monday morning, Eriko Fujita leaves the IBM offices in Tokyo. She rushes home to take a shower and get a few hours of sleep before she returns to her office at 7 a.m. This is the hidden side of life at IBM Japan. For a period of eight months, Fujita, whose name has been…
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In the News
執行委員長奥貫妃文が、フランスのリベラシオン誌Arnaud Vaulerin記者より、マタハラの件で取材を受けました。記事のメインはマタハラネット代表の小酒部さやかさん。奥貫は、マタハラが起こる背景や法規定との関連についてコメントしました。 Executive president Hifumi Okunuki got interviewed by Liberation in the French press journalist Arnaud Vaulerin about Japanese matahara (maternity harassment). The article is about Sayaka Osakabe of Matahara Net. Okunuki made a statement about the background of matahara. http://www.liberation.fr/monde/2015/04/17/sayaka-osakabe-meres-courage_1246748
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組合活動した大学の外国人講師7人雇い止め「ユニオンの排除が目的か」弁護士が批判
東京・豊洲などにキャンパスがある「芝浦工業大学」で英語を教えていたが、3月末に雇い止めになった外国人の元非常勤講師7人が4月7日、厚労省記者クラブで会見を開いた。元講師たちは、カリキュラムの変更を理由に雇用契約が更新されなかったのは無効だとして、雇用の継続を訴えた。 7人は労働組合を結成して、大学側と労働環境の改善に向けた交渉をしていた。7人を支援する弁護士は「ユニオンを排除するためにカリキュラムを変えたのではないか」と語っている。
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Japan sees progress on sexual harassment, but some still don’t get it
BY HIFUMI OKUNUKI Once upon a time, the English word “harassment” was unfamiliar to Japanese ears. Over the past quarter-century the word has burrowed its way deep into the collective consciousness, at times even replacing the Japanese word iyagarase. Today one would be hard-put to find a citizen unfamiliar with the English version and its many derivatives…
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Under Japanese law, breaks are sacred and standby counts as work
Labor law covers a great deal of territory, from wages, work hours, transfers and performance evaluation to dismissals, selling of business rights and industrial accidents. One subject often overlooked is break time or kyūkei. My labor law encyclopedia devotes far fewer pages to this subject than just about any other topic. It is, after all, labor law, not…
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Job insecurity among Japan’s university teachers is a recipe for further decline
Universities in Japan are caught up in a cutthroat struggle for survival. As the population of children plummets, so, in turn, does the number of college entrants. The decline is particularly stark considering that the number of universities had swelled on the back of the postwar baby boom and bubble economy. Institutions of higher learning…
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Japanese firms have much to lose in battles over bogus outsourcing
What is a gyōmu itaku contract? It is basically an outsourcing contract: A company decides it cannot handle a certain job itself, so it outsources the work to another company — or an individual. Individuals on gyōmu itaku contracts are not considered rōdōsha (employees/workers) in the legal sense, and are thus not protected by the…
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The year in labor: the Top 5 pains of 2013
By Hifumi Okunuki Illustrations by Time O’Bree Japan’s old calendar called December shiwasu (師走). These two kanji mean “teacher” and “run.” The idea was that the last month of the year is so busy that even a staid, starch-shirted professor finds him or herself scurrying around like a rabbit, trying to get everything done on time. As…
