Man with backbone 〜 mailman goes to work at Fukushima plant

Many workers are engaged in decontamination and decommission work in Fukushima. Someone’s got to do the job, but we can’t help feeling that the tasks are limitless. What goes through the minds of the workers?

 On Feb. 11, I had a chance to hear IKEDA Minoru (see photo), 62, who went to work at Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant after he retired a post office. Ikeda, who was delivering mail in Tokyo on March 11, was so shocked at the enormous tremor that he had never experienced before in his life and the devastation at the Fukushima plant.

 “I had a comfortable life in Tokyo up til then,” Ikeda spoke at the event organized by “The Reality of Daunting Task at Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant.” “I wanted to see with my own eyes what is really going on in Fukushima.”

 As he retired in 2013, he chose not to seek re-hire after retirement but to go to Fukushima to do something related to the nuclear plant. Although it was difficult for people over 60 to land a job, he was able to find one at the second-tier subcontractor for decontamination work. (By HORIKIRI Satomi)

郵便局員から原発作業員へ～「福島に身を投じた」池田実さんの気概
 

 除 染や福島第一原発の収束に携わる幾多の労働者たち。誰かがやらなければならない作業でありながら、果てしないという印象がぬぐえない。どんな思いでその作 業をしているのか。2月11日、さいたま市で「福島原発作業の真実」という講演会が行われた。主催は「原発問題を考える埼玉の会」。郵便局を退職したあ と、除染そして福島第一原発構内の作業員として働いた、池田実さん（62歳・写真）の話をきいた。池田さんは３・１１のその時、東京都内で郵便配達をして いた。はじめて経験する大きな揺れと、その後に起こった福島原発の事故に、ものすごいショックをうける。「今まで東京でぬくぬくと生きてきた。福島で何が 起こっているかみてみたい」と2013年の定年を機に、再雇用の道を選ばずに福島へ。60歳を過ぎての採用は難しかったが、除染作業の二次下請け会社に就 職することができた。（堀切さとみ） 続き

 

Victorious Settlement Achieved in "Dismissal for Loss of Freshness" Case

In the suit that a dismissed female worker filed against Chat Noir Co, the operator of a coffee shop chain Caffe Veloce in 2011, demanding compensation for unfair dismissal on gender discrimination,  the two parties reached a settlement agreement on Feb. 16 at the Tokyo High Court. The worker affiliated with the Tokyo Youth Union had worked at a Veloce coffee shop in Chiba for nearly nine years in total as a temporary employee. She lost her job in 2013 as the employer introduced a rule under which no temp employment be extended beyond four years, claiming that workers were no longer "freshness enough" after working for four years.  The Tokyo District Court rejected the plaintiff's demand in July 2015, but the worker appealed to the high court where the judge had doubts with the lower court's judgment and proposed a settlement with a payment of money from the company to the appellant. （Excerpts from the statement of the Tokyo Youth Union dated Feb. 17, 2016)
* Photo: Press conference after the settlement agreement


鮮度で解雇」カフェ・ベローチェ事件が解決～勝利和解かちとる

 2 月16日、カフェ・ベローチェ４年雇い止め事件が東京高裁で和解成立した。首都圏青年ユニオンは「勝利和解」として声明を発表した。以下声明か ら。…２０１６年２月１６日、東京高等裁判所民事第５部において、「カフェ・ベローチェ」を運営する株式会社シャノアールが、同千葉店で足かけ９年にわ たって、アルバイトとして勤務してきた女性労働者（控訴人）を、雇止めした事件において、和解が成立した。２、裁判上の和解の内容に従い、和解の内容を下 記のとおり発表する。今般の和解は、控訴人が理不尽に職を奪われたのち、地裁判決で不利な立場に立たされた控訴人と組合にとって、高裁の裁判官が、原審の 判断に疑問を呈したうえで提案した内容を元に進められた和解協議の末得られたものである。内容的にも、解決金が得られたこと等から、組合は、勝利和解と評 価している。 詳細　＊写真＝和解成立を発表する記者会見

Let’s get connected with students and young people! ～ Ouchi Hirokazu speaks at ‘Hinomaru and Kimigayo’ gathering

 It’s been 13 years since the Tokyo metropolitan government began enforcing the “Hinomaru (national flag raising) and Kimigayo (singing of the national anthem)” at public schools in Tokyo. A gathering against this enforcement was held in Suginami Ward in Tokyo on Feb. 13. The meeting, which was promoted by a Tokyo network against the board of education, drew about 100 people.

 At first, OUCHI Hirokazu, Chukyo University professor (see photo), gave a lecture titled,  “Security legislation and Education.” Ouchi, who has shined a light on abuses against part-timers and led the movement to tackle issues surrounding student loan, pointed out that it is important to think about anti-security legislation and poverty together.

 He said, “neo-liberalism have driven income gap and poverty to the worst level. About half of young people live under 3 million yen a year. The number of workers who cannot afford to live is increasing. It is necessary to criticize impoverishment as well as dismantling of constitutionalism. In short, a movement that brings power shift to the relationship between wage labor and capital is being sought.

(By SASAKI Yumi)  

「食べられない」学生・若者たちと繋がろう！～2.13「日の丸・君が代」集会で大内裕和さん
 

 東 京の公立学校で「日の丸・君が代」の強制が始まって13年がたつ。2月13日、「日の丸・君が代」強制反対！2・13総決起集会が、東京・セシオン杉並で 開かれた。主催は都教委包囲首都圏ネット。100人が集まった。冒頭、大内裕和さん（中京大学教授/写真）が「安保法制と教育」と題して講演。ブラックバ イトや、奨学金問題に光をあて、救済運動をリードしてきた大内さんは、反安保運動と貧困問題をつなげることが大切だと指摘した。「新自由主義で格差と貧困 は極限まで達している。若年層のほぼ半数は、年収300万円以下。食べられない労働者が増加している。『立憲主義』解体への批判とともに、貧困化への批判 が必要だ。つまり『賃労働と資本』の場における力関係を変える運動こそが求められている」と語った。（佐々木有美） 続き・渡部通信