About 250 non-Japanese staged a protest march Sunday on the streets of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture, to call for employment and assistance for foreign temporary workers who have lost their jobs to the deepening recession.
Many of the protesters are Japanese-Brazilians who belong to labor unions. They came to the protest from Shizuoka, Aichi, Gifu and Mie prefectures, which all host group firms of Toyota Motor Corp. and Suzuki Motor Corp.
They urged companies to stop firing temp workers. Manufacturers have announced plans in recent weeks to lay off large numbers of such "nonregular" employees.
"We have been treated as disposable, but we work in Japan legally and pay taxes. We want to be treated the same as Japanese workers," said Moizeis Dias Mizuki, a 49-year-old Japanese-Brazilian from Komaki, Aichi Prefecture.
According to a labor union based in Naka Ward, Hamamatsu, the number of foreign workers seeking consultations has increased rapidly since September, 90 percent of them Japanese-Brazilians.
"Foreign workers who cannot speak Japanese tend to be fired first because they cannot fight management," said Toshifumi Nakayasu, the head of the union's consultation office.
