information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
28 Juillet 2012
July 28, 2012
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120728p2a00m0na017000c.html
A man hired to help bring the disaster at the tsunami-hit Fukushima nuclear plant under control has accused subcontractors of forcing him to work under illegal conditions and skimming off part of his wages.
The 45-year-old Nagasaki Prefecture resident has filed a claim with the Tokyo Labor Bureau accusing Nichieidouryoku Co. of dispatching him to a subcontractor through at least one other subcontractor and forcing him to work under a bogus contract.
The man has also filed a petition with the Nagasaki Labor Bureau against four lower-level subcontractors, complaining that they skimmed off part of his wages.
The Labor Lawyers Association of Japan, which supports the man, said that electric power company subcontractors commonly farm out work at nuclear plants to hired hands through several lower-level subcontractors, and skim off workers' wages.
"This case is just the tip of the iceberg. The situation will never change unless Tokyo Electric Power Co. takes responsibility for subcontractors' employment methods and their safety management practices," a spokesman for the association said.
The association said an unnamed company in Nagasaki Prefecture, referred to as "Company A," introduced a job to remove quake and tsunami rubble in an area within 30 kilometers from the Fukushima No. 1 Nuclear Power Plant to the man in June last year.
The company told him that he would be paid 11,000 yen a day, and instructed him to ask an upper-layer subcontractor, referred to as "Company B," about the details of his work and working conditions.
Company B explained that he would be required to work on the premises of the nuclear plant, outside the reactor buildings, and verbally promised to pay him 14,000 yen per day.
The man signed a contract with Yamato Engineering Service, based in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture, a further upper-lever subcontractor. However, the contract did not specify the amount of his wages.
Despite the explanation from Company B, the man was required to work inside the reactor buildings, dressed in protective clothes, from July 1 to Aug. 9, 2011 at the instruction of supervisors belonging to Yamato Engineering and Nichieidouryoku, a further upper-tier subcontractor.
Even though he was told that he would be paid a dangerous work allowance of about 20,000 yen a day in addition to his regular wages, Company A paid him only 11,000 yen per day.
When the man demanded that Yamato Engineering pay the remainder, the company told him that it had paid 14,000 yen as a daily wage, along with danger pay, to yet another company, referred to as Company C, since he had been dispatched to Company C. Company C was an upper-layer subcontractor for Company B.
The Labor Lawyers Association of Japan pointed out that if Company C had dispatched him to a lower-layer subcontractor, it would constitute a "multi-layer dispatch," and that if he was employed by Yamato Engineering but required to work at the instruction of Nichieidouryoku, it would constitute a bogus consignment contract. Both practices are banned by the Act for Securing the Proper Operation of Worker Dispatching Undertaking.
The association has demanded that labor standards inspection authorities order the man's employer to pay him 630,000 yen in unpaid wages and allowances.
Both Nichieidouryoku and Yamato Engineering officials declined to comment on the case.
"We don't know anything about the case because we didn't have a direct employment contract with the man," a Nichieidouryoku official said.
"Our president is away and can't comment on the matter," Yamato Engineering official said.
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