Press Conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan on the Issue of Poverty and Employment

On February 4, the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan, based in Tokyo, had a press conference on the povety and employment issues. The three guest speakers were Mr. Makoto Yuasa, the director general of NPO Moyai; Mr. Makoto Kawazoe, the secretary general of the Metropolitan Youth Union (General Youth Chapter of Tokyo Metropolitan General Workers' Union); and Ms. Naoko Shimizu, the president of FRZK (union of general part-timers, arbiters, freeters and foreign workers) (see the photo). At the beginning, the DVD "Tent City for Jobless" (6 minutes, English version) was shown. Mr. Yuasa said, "Within labor market, the quality of employment has degraded as represented in the worker dispatch business and outside the labor market, no safety net is functioning. These are the causes of the povety peculiar to the situation in Japan where unemployment immediately means the homeless status," pointing out the two factors in particular. Mr. Kawazoe reported on the inhumane working conditions of dispatched workers. Ms. Shimizu released the new action development, saying, "Our union would like to rent apartments so that we can provide inexpensive shelters for laid-off dispatched workers."
See "Tent Village for Jobless, English version, the animation on the press conference (TVJAN))


　外国特派員協会で「貧困・雇用問題」の記者会見
　2月4日、東京・外国特派員協会で貧困・雇用問題の記者会見があった。NPOもやい事務局長の湯浅誠さん・首都圏青年ユニオン書記長の河添誠さん・フリーター全般労組委員長の清水直子さんの3名がゲスト（写真）。冒頭、ビデオプレス制作の「年越し派遣村」（6分・英語版）が上映された。湯浅さんは「失業した途端にホームレスになってしまう日本型貧困の原因は、労働市場の中では派遣など雇用の質が劣化したこと、労働市場の外ではセイフティネットが機能していないこと」の二つを指摘した。河添さんは、派遣労働の非人間的実態を報告。清水さんは「アパートを組合で借り上げ、シェルターとして“派遣切り”労働者に安く提供したい」と新たな活動展開を明らかにした。 ・ビデオ「年越し派遣村」英語版 ・会見動画（TVJAN）