-
·
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…
-
·
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。
-
·
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),…
-
·
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…
-
·
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…
-
·
Executive pay on the rise at top Japanese firms
Japan has at least three listed companies where a top executive earned more than 100 times the average annual salary for employees in the year ended March, according to their settlement accounts. “I felt disheartened to hear that the president received about 900 million yen when many workers are wondering every day how to save…
-
·
Talks drag on, teachers fired in Berlitz case
After 20 months of legal wrangling, neither side has managed to snag a win in Berlitz Japan‘s ¥110 million lawsuit against five teachers and their union, Begunto. On the recommendation of the case’s lead judge, the company and union have been in court-mediated reconciliation talks since December. The agreement to enter the talks came after…
-
·
Uniqlo chief Yanai calls on Japan to internationalize, accept immigration
The positive sides to immigration are enormous, as immigrants would both increase the population and stimulate the economy. If Japanese come into everyday contact with foreigners from childhood, it would also help alleviate Japanese people’s distaste for internationalization. Europe, the U.S. and all the other advanced nations in the world accept immigrants. As the economy…
-
·
自治体財政難、ＡＬＴ直接雇用激減 労使トラブルも
小中学校や高校に配置され子供の国際理解を手助けする外国語指導助手（ＡＬＴ）。厳しい財政事情を背景に、自治体による直接雇用が減り、民間企業を通じた派遣や業務委託が増えている。一方、元ＡＬＴの英国人男性が、ＡＬＴ関連としては県内で初めて県労働委員会に不当労働行為の救済を申し立てて、２０日に証人尋問が行われるなど、雇用をめぐるトラブルも表面化。自治体の直接雇用を求める声が上がっている。
-
·
Stop exploiting trainees as cheap labor: lawyers
It is high time the government faced facts and scrapped its industrial training and internship program because it is used to exploit foreign trainees as a cheap source of labor, a lawyer group said Thursday, claiming the purpose of the system and its reality are worlds apart. The trainee system is touted as making an…