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Restore the shuttered-up New Year’s of yore
BY HIFUMI OKUNUKI First of all, I would like to wish a happy new year to all the readers of Labor Pains. While labor news has generally been a gloomy topic of late, it is my hope that this year will bring brighter things for me to write about. As I draft this first column…
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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…
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Matahara: turning the clock back on women’s rights
Matahara: turning the clock back on women’s rights ‘Maternity harassment‘ concept coined amid reports of bullying over pregnancy at work BY HIFUMI OKUNUKI “When I told my company I was pregnant, they fired me.” “I was delighted to be hired by a company I loved. Then my boss made me promise not to get pregnant…
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Labor law reform raises rather than relieves workers’ worries
Story originally published in Japan Times A new specter hangs over Japan: the specter of insecure employment. The source of this insecurity is the August 2012 reform of the Labor Contract Act related to fixed-term employment. Due to take effect April 1, the thrust of the reform is as follows: 1. Workers employed on fixed-term…
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Labor law protects expectant and new mothers — to a point
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20121016lp.html Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2012 By HIFUMI OKUNUKI I had a labor consultation with a woman who said: “The other day I told my company I was pregnant. My boss asked me to quit because the firm can’t afford to give me time off. One of my coworkers once resigned before giving birth but…