No to the termination of 13,694 Postal non-regular workers - First trial held for the complaint filed by dismissed workers

At the end of September last year, 13,694 non-regular workers aged over 65 were terminated from the Japan Post. It had been a past practice to renew workers' contracts when the contract term expired, regardless of the worker's age. Refusing to accept the termination, 5 of the dismissed workers took their cases to court. The first hearing was held on February 9th at the Tokyo District Court No. 620. There were only 24 seats for observers, but some 60 people gathered in the court room. The court guards urged the standing observers to leave, but they remained there, saying “We want to show the Judge that many people are here to listen.” Entering the courtroom, the alarmed Judge ordered the standing observers to leave the room. They left the room saying “You should have a bigger courtroom!” In the trial, the dismissed workers, NIWA Yoshiko and FUKAO Tadanori, gave their testimonies confidently, urging equal treatment for non-regular workers who are doing the same work for low wages and insecure status. （M）

とんでもない！郵政13694人の非正規切り～第一回裁判開かれる
昨年9月末に、それまでの慣行を無視して65歳以上の郵政非正規職員13694人が、一方的に解雇された。これに怒った有志5人が提訴。初めての裁判が、2月9日、東京地裁620号法廷で開かれた。24の傍聴席に約60人、小さな法廷は「立ち見」であふれかえり、午後1時10分の開廷を待った。職員が退場を促すが、「たくさん来ていることを裁判長に見せたい」と立ち見の傍聴者は出ていかない。そこに裁判長が登場。目をシロクロさせ、「立っている人は外に出てください」。立ち見の人「もっと大きな法廷でやってください」と言い残して退場した。裁判では、解雇された丹羽良子さん・深尾忠典さんが堂々とした陳述を行い、同じ仕事をしながら、低賃金・不安定を強いられている非正規の実態を強く訴えた。（M）　＊写真＝提訴した人たち