Female employees of Toyoko Inn organize union – No more working long overtime hours and human rights violation!

In Toyoko Inn Co., Ltd., which runs 200 economy hotels in Japan, full-time female employees in charge of reception and room service formed the “Toyoko Inn Union”. They cannot take a nap or rest despite that they have to work in a 25-hour shift. They have to work very long overtime hours without pay, and there are only one to two employees required to manage the whole building late at night. They are forced to take 8-day “introspection training” in a half tatami mat-sized (9 square feet) closed space. They have filed a lawsuit to the Osaka District Court about their “extremely hard work likely to cause karoshi (death from overwork) and training with human rights being violated”. However, the management rebuts their claims for unpaid wages as “dogmatic leftist theories” and insists the introspection training as a “spiritual and psychological technique that cannot be grasped with materialistic understanding”. More and more employees of the hotel chain are joining the union after reading flyers and news reports. The National Council of the National Union of General Workers opened “Labor and human rights hotlines for Toyoko Inn” in various places in Japan. (Yamahara, Zenrokyo: National Trade Union Council) - Webpage for more details

東横インの女性たちが労組結成～長時間残業と人権侵害はもうゴメン！
　200のビジネスホテルを全国展開する東横インで、フロントやルームメイク担当の女性正社員らが「東横イン労組」を結成した。25時間勤務なのに、仮眠・休息も取れず、サービス残業は膨大で、深夜は1－2人で全館を管理させられる。半畳の閉所に8日間拘束される「内観研修」も強制される。大阪地裁でも「過労死的労働・人権侵害研修」と女性達に訴えられているが、会社は、未払賃金請求は「教条主義的な左翼理論」、内観研修は「唯物論的理解では把握できない精神心理技法」と反論している。ビラや報道により、全国から労組加入が拡大している。また全国一般全国協が、「東横イン・労働人権ホットライン」を各地に開設した。（大阪全労協・山原）・詳細HP