- This evening (May 21), the bill revising a part of the Workers
Dispatch Law and other laws was put to a vote at the House of Representatives
Health, Welfare and Labor Committee and passed by a majority with
support from the three ruling parties. An appended resolution also
passed unanimously during the committee’s vote. The revision
(1) extends dispatch limits to three years, (2) lifts a ban on prohibiting
dispatches to manufacturing businesses, and (3) drops prohibitions
on prior interviews for workers classified ‘temp to hire.’
In response to this bill, that seeks to expand dispatch periods and
extend the range of businesses despite remarks by the Democratic Party
of Japan and other opposition parties’ urging sufficient measures
to protect workers, it is truly regrettable that the ruling parties
rammed the bill through without any modification.
- The contents of the government bill were explained to the Committee
on May 7 and were followed by inquiries on May 9, 14, and 16. During
this period, the DPJ and other opposition parties have demanded deliberations
after it was disclosed that the health, welfare and labor administration
was involved in certain questionable situations. These included HLW
Deputy Minister Kimura’s false statements on allegations of
bribery, which resulted in suspension of the Committee’s deliberations,
and political donations by a worker dispatch agency to former Committee
Chairperson Sakai.
They also keenly pursued the government’s basic stance that
it submissively accepted industry-interest-biased labor legislation
deregulation, which was led by the Council for Regulatory Reform any
lacks any sort balance in the composition of the committee and has
multiple members from the human-resource industry.
- While such background has been clarified, the DPJ and other opposition
parties have demanded that the bill contain the following points.
1) Clarify the status of dispatch labor as a temporary work. 2) Implement
a labor-management joint consultation system that requires agreement
to introduce dispatch labor. 3) Stabilize dispatched workers jobs
by matching dispatch contracts and labor contract periods. 4) Stipulate
dual liability measures for health and safety measures and workmen's
industrial compensation from those companies that receive and those
that supply temporary labor personnel.
However, we found the lack of any clear stipulation of worker protection
measures in the bill along with the Committee’s decision to
pave the way for easier expansion of dispatch labor to be critical
problems.
- RENGO will hold thorough discussions on these various problems,
through future deliberations at the House of Councilors, and focus
every effort into realizing worker protection measures in cooperation
with the DPJ and each other party.
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