Average winter bonus for gov’t employees goes up 4.1%

December 19, 2011 in ALT, News, Wages

The government’s rank-and-file employees received on average of about 617,100 yen in winter bonuses, up 4.1 percent from a year earlier. The average bonus for a government employee is equivalent to 2.02 months pay.

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Nurses in Japan find language a barrier

December 16, 2011 in News, Nursing

As of May 2011—or nearly five years after the Jpepa was signed and nearly three years after it was ratified by the Philippine Senate—only two Filipino nurses have passed the licensure exam for nursing while 229 caregivers have been allowed to work here.

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Labor ministry proposes requiring firms to hire employees till age 65

December 16, 2011 in Discrimination, News

The labor ministry proposed Wednesday requiring companies to keep their workers employed till the age of 65 if they wish to continue working even after reaching the retirement age of 60, in light of the government’s plan to raise the pensionable age from 60 to 65 in stages.

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Occupy Wall Street resonates within Japan

December 16, 2011 in News, Wages

According to business consultant Masao Kitami, during 1997-2007, total wages declined by ¥20 trillion. “When people say Japan is becoming a society with a widening income gap,” he writes, “I tell them, we’ve descended into a ‘low-wage society.’”

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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.

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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.

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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.”

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Teachers bolt jobs over mental angst

November 14, 2011 in ALT, News

The number of first-year teachers who left their job for health reasons has increased twentyfold over the past 10 years, with most citing apparent emotional issues, an education ministry survey has found.

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Over 10,000 construction workers and family thought to be without health insurance

November 11, 2011 in Health Insurance, News

Over 10,000 people who joined a public health insurance program for self-employed construction workers even though they were not qualified to are thought to be without health insurance now, it has been learned.

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Schizophrenic Constitution leaves foreigners’ rights mired in confusion

November 11, 2011 in Discrimination, Immigration, News

So what rights do foreign residents have under the Constitution? Well, according to the Supreme Court, they are entitled to all the same rights as Japanese people, except for those which by their nature are only to be enjoyed by Japanese people.

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