Category Archives: Dispatch

3 nabbed over fake contract for nuclear repair work in Fukui

January 23, 2012 in Dispatch, News

Various temporary agencies have been suspected of siphoning off workers’ wages and crime syndicates are suspected of playing a part in dispatching such temporary workers.

All employees in Japan are entitled to paid leave, period

December 13, 2011 in Dispatch, News

Paid leave is a right all employees are entitled to. A worker who has been employed continuously for six months from the day they were hired and has reported for work on at least 80 percent of their assigned workdays must be granted annual paid leave, according to Article 39 of the Labor Standards Act.

Joytalk ALTs Unionized

November 18, 2011 in Action, ALT, Announcements, Dispatch, News

Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union and its Tozen ALTs Branch recently declared the existence of its Joytalk Shop to management and submitted a slate of 28 collective bargaining demands.

Calm at J. Village belies the danger

November 14, 2011 in Dispatch, Health Insurance, News

“For example, one worker kept working at the Fukushima No. 1 plant for more than 10 years. Even after the accident, he kept working and he was fired after his dose exceeded 40 millisieverts,” Watanabe said. “He had once falsified his exposure records so he would not lose his job.”

Borderlink ALTs Unionized

October 3, 2011 in Action, ALT, Announcements, Dispatch, News

On Friday, September 30th 20011, Zenkoku Ippan Tokyo General Union and its Tozen ALTs Branch declared the existence of its Borderlink Shop to management and submitted a slate of 34 collective bargaining demands.

Welfare system not faring well

September 26, 2011 in Dispatch, News

NHK found that a substantial portion of the recipients are able-bodied males between the ages of 20 and 60. The number of unemployed in Japan hovers just under the 5 million mark, and as one case worker explained, most of the new additions to the welfare rolls are men who were employed as haken (contract workers), non-regular employees who could be laid off easily.

Temp staffer wins maternity leave, via union

August 10, 2011 in Discrimination, Dispatch, News

When female nonregular workers become pregnant, employers often refuse to renew their contracts. However, a Japanese-Brazilian woman in the Tokai region stood up and joined a local labor union to protest the practice.

Men born in late 1970s tend to stay in nonregular jobs: gov’t paper

July 8, 2011 in Dispatch, News, Wages

Men born in the latter half of the 1970s tend to be mired in nonregular jobs compared with those of other generations as work status such as temporary employment has spread since the 1990s, the labor ministry said in an annual report on labor economy released Friday.

Chinese exodus hurts industries dependent on foreign trainees, interns

June 1, 2011 in Dispatch, Immigration, News, Trainees

“If the expenses for (going to China to) recruit and train are added to their wages, Chinese interns now cost more than Japanese workers,” the president said. “I intend to do away with accepting interns over the next three to five years.”

American teacher in Sendai stays in Japan to help with volunteer efforts

April 27, 2011 in ALT, Dispatch, News

However, many ALTs have not stayed behind. According to the Council of Local Authorities for International Relations (CLAIR), which every year mediates the contracts of around 4,000 ALTs at local authorities around the country, 44 ALTs quit their jobs after the earthquake.