temp workers in japan article
Quite a good article on Temp workers in Japan. Eventhough there is no real security, there is freedom.
Super temp worker who saves day is a nonconformist heroine
By PHILIP BRASOR
Prior to the start of the current Diet session, Prime Minister ShinzoAbe said that the ruling coalition would not submit previouslyannounced bills to revise the Labor Standards Law. The move was seenas being cautionary, since there will be an Upper House election inJuly and the bills would have contained the so-called white-collarexemption, which says companies no longer have to pay overtime to acertain class of office worker. It is thought the exemption wouldanger salarymen voters.This assumption presupposes the obvious, that salarymen resent workingovertime for free, and opponents of the exemption refer to it with anumber of sardonic nicknames: the "pin-hane (rake-off)" or "fubarai(non-payment)" bills, the "work-more measure" and the"death-from-overwork-promotion" rule. The ruling coalition ignoredthese snipes by concentrating on what it saw as the exemption's socialbenefits: company employees can spend more time at home with theirfamilies rather than at the office.Though the business world supports the white-collar exemption, it justas strongly opposes the other revisions being considered for the bill,
increase in the minimum wage and a ban on age limits in hiring.These revisions would mainly benefit workers who aren\'t full time andwhose increasing numbers in the corporate workplace have stifledsalaries across the board, according to a report released last week bythe labor ministry. In a debate on NHK last Sunday morning, a SocialDemocratic Party politician asked the Liberal Democratic Party\'sSecretary General Hidenao Nakagawa about this trend. Nakagawa againtried to emphasize the social benefits. "Many people nowadays preferto work in their own way," he said, specifically referring to contractemployees. The temp boom is merely a reflection of society\'s desirefor greater freedom of choice.This thinking feeds into the idea that temp workers are happy-go-luckyfree spirits who work only when they want to and enjoy their livesmore than full-timers do. It\'s a myth that\'s convenient forcorporations, who don\'t have to pay benefits or social insurance fortemps and who got the government to liberalize the labor laws in 1999to allow virtually any type of job to be contracted out.The myth is addressed in Nihon TV\'s drama series "Haken no Hinkaku"(Wednesdays, 10 p.m.). Haken, which means "dispatch," is the wordgenerally used to describe temporary contract workers, and hinkakumeans "dignity." The protagonist, Haruko Ohmae (Ryoko Shinohara), isdescribed as a "super haken," a temp whose office skills are sosharply developed that client companies ask for her by name.Haruko is a super haken in more ways than one. While she can whip up aspreadsheet faster than you can say "Excel" and knows how to brew amean cup of ocha, she also knows her rights. She\'s out of the officeexactly at six o\'clock. "Overtime is not in my dictionary," she says", including stricter penalties for labor-regulation violations, anincrease in the minimum wage and a ban on age limits in hiring.
These revisions would mainly benefit workers who aren't full time andwhose increasing numbers in the corporate workplace have stifledsalaries across the board, according to a report released last week bythe labor ministry. In a debate on NHK last Sunday morning, a SocialDemocratic Party politician asked the Liberal Democratic Party'sSecretary General Hidenao Nakagawa about this trend. Nakagawa againtried to emphasize the social benefits. "Many people nowadays preferto work in their own way," he said, specifically referring to contractemployees. The temp boom is merely a reflection of society's desirefor greater freedom of choice.This thinking feeds into the idea that temp workers are happy-go-luckyfree spirits who work only when they want to and enjoy their livesmore than full-timers do. It's a myth that's convenient forcorporations, who don't have to pay benefits or social insurance fortemps and who got the government to liberalize the labor laws in 1999 to allow virtually any type of job to be contracted out.The myth is addressed in Nihon TV's drama series "Haken no Hinkaku"(Wednesdays, 10 p.m.). Haken, which means "dispatch," is the wordgenerally used to describe temporary contract workers, and hinkakumeans "dignity." The protagonist, Haruko Ohmae (Ryoko Shinohara), isdescribed as a "super haken," a temp whose office skills are sosharply developed that client companies ask for her by name.Haruko is a super haken in more ways than one. While she can whip up aspreadsheet faster than you can say "Excel" and knows how to brew amean cup of ocha, she also knows her rights. She's out of the officeexactly at six o'clock. "Overtime is not in my dictionary," she says leave, even if they have nothing to do.
The full-timers resent it when Haruko marches home after eight hoursbecause it indicates she is not beholden to the company. It\'s impliedshe has better things to do. At night she is a flamenco dancer at aSpanish theme bar, and between three-month work assignments shetravels to Spain to polish her art and language skills.But beneath Haruko's extreme no-nonsense exterior is a broken heart.She was laid off from a full-time position when the company she workedfor was downsized, and it\'s implied that her talents compensate forher loss of identity as a member of a corporate family. Every week,she reveals in superhero fashion another impossible skill -- operatingheavy machinery, speaking Russian, preparing fancy seafood -- that shehas picked up during her years as a temp.This contrasts humorously with the relative lack of skills displayedby the full-timers at the food-service company where Haruko iscurrently contracted to work. They look down on the haken workers asan inferior species, but in every episode Haruko saves the day. At onepoint, the middle-aged department manager who hired her reprimands hisyoung staff for the way they treat the temps. "In order to reducecosts we need haken with skills," he says. The contract worker issomething the full-time worker must accept, not only as an economicnecessity, but as an equal partner.This is where the "dignity" comes in, and while the show emphasizespride in accomplishment over financial reward it also makes the casethat you can\'t have the former without the latter. Haruko commands alarger wage than other haken because she brings a professionalattitude to her work. She does her job and expects to be compensatedfairly for it. She wants no part of the corporate office culture and",coldly.
Full-timers are expected to hang around until their superiorsleave, even if they have nothing to do.The full-timers resent it when Haruko marches home after eight hoursbecause it indicates she is not beholden to the company. It's impliedshe has better things to do. At night she is a flamenco dancer at aSpanish theme bar, and between three-month work assignments shetravels to Spain to polish her art and language skills.But beneath Haruko's extreme no-nonsense exterior is a broken heart.She was laid off from a full-time position when the company she workedfor was downsized, and it's implied that her talents compensate forher loss of identity as a member of a corporate family. Every week,she reveals in superhero fashion another impossible skill -- operatingheavy machinery, speaking Russian, preparing fancy seafood -- that shehas picked up during her years as a temp.This contrasts humorously with the relative lack of skills displayedby the full-timers at the food-service company where Haruko iscurrently contracted to work. They look down on the haken workers asan inferior species, but in every episode Haruko saves the day. At onepoint, the middle-aged department manager who hired her reprimands hisyoung staff for the way they treat the temps. "In order to reducecosts we need haken with skills," he says. The contract worker issomething the full-time worker must accept, not only as an economicnecessity, but as an equal partner.This is where the "dignity" comes in, and while the show emphasizespride in accomplishment over financial reward it also makes the casethat you can't have the former without the latter. Haruko commands alarger wage than other haken because she brings a professionalattitude to her work. She does her job and expects to be compensatedfairly for it. She wants no part of the corporate office culture and
her heart will likely melt by episode 12, but for the time being sheis an island of stoical purpose in a sea of unproductive workers. Whenthe manager offers Haruko a full-time position, she curtly refuses.The company employees are so shocked, they fall over.Haruko is a caricature of the haken ideal. The reality for tempworkers is more complicated than the situation portrayed in "Haken noHinkaku," but there\'s something refreshing, even radical, aboutHaruko\'s refusal to adhere to the mores of the corporate workplace,where working overtime is seen as a sign of conformity even when it\'swork that could have been done during normal hours. As the primeminister implied when he decided to shelve the white-collar exemptionfor the time being, even the most loyal salaryman expects to get paidfor hanging around.", its politics of human networking. According to the laws of TV dramas,her heart will likely melt by episode 12, but for the time being sheis an island of stoical purpose in a sea of unproductive workers. Whenthe manager offers Haruko a full-time position, she curtly refuses.The company employees are so shocked, they fall over.Haruko is a caricature of the haken ideal. The reality for tempworkers is more complicated than the situation portrayed in "Haken noHinkaku," but there's something refreshing, even radical, aboutHaruko's refusal to adhere to the mores of the corporate workplace,where working overtime is seen as a sign of conformity even when it'swork that could have been done during normal hours. As the primeminister implied when he decided to shelve the white-collar exemptionfor the time being, even the most loyal salaryman expects to get paidfor hanging around.
posted by kinakogirl @ 4:01 am
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