'Culture of fear': Report alleges low pay and overwork for laborers at Tokyo Olympics sites
A report released by a global union federation Wednesday demanded better conditions for laborers working on the construction of Tokyo Games facilities after several "alarming" cases of suspected labor violations were uncovered. The report from Building and Wood Workers' International (BWI), titled "The Dark Side ...
Younger animators still struggling amid anime boom
By all outward appearances, Japan's animation industry is thriving. A recent report by The Association for Japanese Animations indicates the industry's worth as a whole topped over ¥2 trillion in 2017 — a new record. International streaming services like Netflix and Crunchyroll have begun ...
Japan's labor shortage eats away at backbreaking work culture
When she worked in sales for a bank, Chihiro Narazaki was passed over for the best assignments in favor of older colleagues. Her input was discouraged and she often stayed late just to do routine paperwork. The 29-year-old knew where this was heading: Her father, ...
Thousands march on May Day across Asia demanding better working conditions
Thousands of trade union members and activists marked May Day by marching through Asia's capitals and demanding better working conditions and expanding labor rights. A major South Korean umbrella trade union issued a joint statement with a North Korean workers' organization calling for the Koreas ...
Some 100 Chinese workers suffering from a work-related disease have signed a petition demanding the release of three prominent activists in southern China amid a crackdown on labor activism. Wei Zhili and Ke Chengbing, editors of a labor rights news site that reported on the ...
The closure of 51 Coco Juku eikaiwa (English conversation) schools in Japan last week, with more to come in June, illustrates just how unstable the English teaching market can be. Companies that used to provide fairly well-paying jobs are now, in many cases, restructuring ...
Know your rights as a language teacher
Dennis Tesolat is chair of the General Union based in Osaka. Founded in 1991, the organization is part of a national private sector trade union known as Zenkoku-Ippan (the National Union of General Workers), which belongs to a confederation known as Zenrokyo (National Trade ...
Recruits mark first day at work across Japan as fiscal 2019 begins with new overtime curbs
This year's recruits went to work at their new jobs for the first time Monday, the start of fiscal 2019 and the beginning of stricter overtime restrictions. "I would like (this ministry) to lead Japan's social security and working style," Health, Labor and Welfare Minister ...
Probe reveals 759 cases of suspected abuse and 171 deaths of foreign trainees in Japan
The Justice Ministry’s probe into the Technical Intern Training Program confirms growing concerns about a link between the trainees’ working conditions and their growing disappearances from companies.
Government bill on power harassment takes aim at Japan's workplace woes
A supervisor berates employees as slackers and incompetents. A president taunts, punches and forces a worker to write a letter of resignation — leading the employee to commit suicide. A whistle-blower exposes an illegal cartel, only to be banished and given mundane tasks to ...
Tea label giants vow probe after Sri Lanka labor abuse expose
Plantations in Sri Lanka that supply "slavery-free" tea to top global companies are under investigation by ethical label groups after an expose found illegal wage deductions that have left some workers ill and unable to afford health care. An investigation by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ...
Most of the work style reform measures included in legislation enacted into law last year are set to take effect on Monday, effectively introducing the nation's first compulsory caps on overtime hours at major companies. The reform, which will come into force with the start ...
