Young temporary workers in Tokyo and neighboring prefectures have organized a labor union to improve their working conditions, which are frequently inferior to those of full-time employees, union members said Saturday.

Anyone under 40 and supporting themselves by working in a part-time job is eligible to join the Shutoken Seinen Union (Metropolitan Area Youth Labor Union) for a membership fee of 1,500 yen a month, they said.

Manabu Natori, 27, a part-time hospital clerk, was named chief of the union and 24 other workers aged between 19 and 36, most of them part-time staff at fast-food outlets, have joined up.

One of the members said he was motivated to join the union because his employer does not pay for overtime work, while another said he joined the group after he was fired without warning.

Natori, who took his current part-time job after graduating from university in the spring of 1999, said many young part-timers are worried about the security of their jobs and low wages.

"As I come close to the age of 30, I'm not sure how much longer I will go on working as a part-timer, with only enough wages to support myself," said Natori, adding that he wants workers of his generation to share common problems that they face.

He said he decided to launch the union despite lacking experience in union activities because he believed a labor union would be able to help young part-timers who have nowhere to turn when they experience problems related to work.

"I think a lot of (the part-time workers) do not know, for example, that there is a system of compensation for work-related health damages," Natori said. The union was launched Dec. 1, when about 50 job-hopping part-timers, also known as "freeters," gathered at conference hall in Tokyo's Toshima Ward and some of them responded to Natori's call to unite.

There are more than 1.5 million young freeters in Japan, according to a Labor Ministry estimate. They are generally paid less than their full-time counterparts and are often forced to work overtime without extra wages. Some of them choose to be freeters because part-time jobs allow them spare time for other activities and they can easily quit or change jobs, while others are forced to take temporary jobs after failing to land regular employment.

The launch of the freeter union comes at a time when an increasing number of full-time young employees are staying away from union activities.

The union currently constitutes a branch of the Toku Kanren Ippan Roso, a Tokyo labor union of part-time local government workers, but plans to become independent in the future, according to Natori.

For more information about the group, call the Shutoken Seinen Union at 03-5395-5255.