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Mazda temp-staff practice ruled illegal
Mazda temp-staff practice ruled illegal Yamaguchi court: Displaced 13 should be regular employees http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/03/14/national/mazda-temp-staff-practice-ruled-illegal/#.UVFDtL8WZZJ YAMAGUCHI – The Yamaguchi District Court ruled Wednesday that Mazda Motor Corp.’s temp-staff employment practice is illegal and recognized regular employee status for 13 former temp-staff workers displaced by the automaker. The rare recognition that displaced temporary workers should be regular employees…
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Teachers are workers, not martyrs: the severance scandal that isn’t
Saints or sinners?: Some media outlets and politicians appear to be apoplectic over the decision by some state school teachers to retire months early to safeguard potentially millions of yen in severance pay. | AP Story originally published in Japan Times “Teachers quitting before graduation?!” the headlines screamed as we headed into the new year.…
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AKB48: Unionize and take back your lost love lives
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/01/22/how-tos/akb48-unionize-and-take-back-your-lost-love-lives/#.UQ5ewt1VmjM BY HIFUMI OKUNUKI They started performing on stages in Tokyo’s Akihabara electronics district, and today their ubiquity is unrivaled. The current flavors of the month pepper the TV schedules and covers of weekly magazines all year round. In Tokyo, you can’t swing a carrot without hitting a giant poster of one or a bunch of…
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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…
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Foreigners on welfare face pension burden
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121017a1.html Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2012 Planned end to premium waiver sparks cries of discrimination Kyodo The Japan Pension Service wants to drop the pension premium waiver for foreigners who are on welfare, effectively ending a long-held practice of treating them the same as Japanese, sources said Tuesday. The government-linked body that runs the public pension…
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Tokyo Area GABA workers unionize
2012年9月28日 〒151-0062 東京都渋谷区元代々木町 30-13 グラスシティ元代々木 4F 03-5790-7000 (TEL) 03-5790-7145 (FAX) 株式会社 GABA 代表取締役社長 増田崇之殿 GABA Corporation President Takayuki Masuda 全国一般東京ゼネラルユニオン 執行委員長 ルイス・カーレット 全 国一般東京ゼネラルユニオン GABA 労働組合 執行委員長 ジェイソン・コームス Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union President Louis Carlet Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union GABA Workers Union President Jason Combs 組合結成通知並びに団体交渉の申し入れ Notice of Union Formation and Demand for…
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The British Council: friend or foe?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/oct/08/british-council-education-training Educators working overseas complain that the venerable quango’s business interests have turned it into a rival Jonn Elledge The Guardian, Monday 8 October 2012 19.30 BST A few years ago, when the CfBT Education Trust, a non-profit organisation that runs schools and education services, was looking to expand its operations in Malaysia, its chief executive,…
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40% of part-timers want regular work
Saturday, Aug. 25, 2012 Jiji http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nb20120825a1.html More than 40 percent of part-time workers aged between 20 and 34 want full employment, according to the results of a government survey conducted in 2011. The proportion of respondents looking for full-time work increased from some 30 percent in the previous survey, conducted in 2006, the Health, Welfare…
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Courts back workers’ rock-solid right to strike
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fl20120717lp.html By HIFUMI OKUNUKI “Sensei, Japan is such a safe country because there are no strikes. Right?” A student at the university where I teach blindsided me with this remark the other day. Striking is the main dispute tool for labor unions to realize worker demands. Article 28 of Japan’s Constitution guarantees the right to…
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In ‘right-to-work’ Japan, employees should also have the right to rest
By HIFUMI OKUNUKI According to the tagline for the 1991 film “City Slickers,” “All you need in life is love, courage and paid holidays.” Indeed, some of us may find meaning to our lives through single-minded devotion to our jobs, but without leisure time our bodies and minds would inevitably putter out. Taken to extremes,…