1700 People Gather at Anti-Poverty Festa--Discussin on 'Work' Heats Up

On March 28, Anti-Poverty Festa 2009 was held at Kanda Hitotsubashi Junior High School. Many homeless people lined up for free food, which reminded visitors of "TentCity," which drew many jobless during the New Year's holidays. About 1,700 people of a wide age range gathered at the festa. In the afternoon, a symposium was held on"Our work is threatened" (see photo). People who were laid off from their temp jobs and others who face severe labour conditions told their stories at the rally. Three federation of labor unions and citizens groups also discussed about Japan's labor issues and threw criticism at one another. At the closing ceremony, Anti-Poverty Network representative and lawyer, Kenji Utsunomiya, said:"I agreed with the opinion that the success of Tent City came about from cooperation between labor unions and citizens groups. We must create a society where people can work in a decent manner by strengthening relationship between the unions and citizenry groups."


反貧困フェスタに1700人～「はたらく」テーマに熱いディスカッション
　3月28日、反貧困フェスタ2009が東京・神田一橋中学校で開催され終日賑わった。炊きだしでは、たくさんの野宿者が列をつくり「年越し派遣村」を彷彿させた。参加人数は約1700名で、若者から年配者まで幅広く、多様な人々が交流するフェスタとなった。午後は体育館でシンポジウム「いま"はたらく"が危ない」（写真）があった。ここでは、派遣切りされた人などから労働現場の生々しい実態が語られた。また連合・全労連・全労協・市民団体の代表による討論があり、批判や注文も含めた熱いディスカッションがあった。閉会集会で、反貧困ネット代表の宇都宮弁護士は「シンポの中で“労働組合と市民運動の出会いが派遣村を成功させた”という話が出たが私もそう思う。これからも相互の連携を強め、人らしい働き方ができる社会をつくろう」と呼びかけた。