Emails detail long working hours: Recent cases from the Labor Consultation Center

Case 1: I was a manager at Toyoko Inn Hotel. I had to work 24 hours continuously and had only two or three days off in a month. There was overtime work every day and sometimes I had to work reception for 25 hours. I was worn out and had to leave the job. I had a management position, so there was no time card and it was difficult to claim overtime pay.

Case 2: I work for an IT venture company. I start working at 8:45 a.m. and leave office at mid night every day. Still, I have to take work home. I have never taken a single paid holiday. I became mentally ill and am convalescing at home. The company hasn’t done anything about my illness.

Case 3: I work at a nursing home for the elderly. I have to work a 16 hour night shift alone. There is no break time. Now, there is no overtime pay.

Case 4: I am a kindergarten teacher. My official working hours are 8a.m. to 5p.m., but actually it’s from 7:20 a.m. to 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. and sometimes 10 p.m. I have to work up to 3 hours after returning home. There is no overtime pay, nor for holiday work. My colleagues have health disorders due to over work and stress. (NPO Labor Consultation Center)

 Photo: Tokyo Tobu Union members displaying  a banner, saying "Defend the eight hour working hour system".

24時間拘束で心身ともに疲れ果て～「労働時間」メール相談事例紹介

1、東横インで支配人でした。ほぼ24時間拘束され、月に2日～3日しか休みがとれ

ず、毎日の残業、時にはフロント25時間勤務もあり、心身ともに疲れ果て退職しまし

た。支配人は管理職だからとタイムカードも出勤簿もなく、残業代請求も中々できな

い仕組みで す。2、ＩＴベンチャー企業。毎日出社8時45分～退社24時です。その

上、自宅に持ち帰らないと終わらない仕事量です。有給休暇など一度も取ったことは

ありません。ついに精神疾患で倒れ、自宅療養中ですが、会社からは病気への何のア

クションもありません。3、特別養護 老人ホーム。16時間の夜勤業務を一人でさせら

れています。休憩時間は一切ありません。その上、残業代も付かなくなりました。

4、幼稚園で教諭。8時～17時が定時ですが、実際は朝7時20分～19時・20時です。22

時の時もあります。その上、自宅に帰ってからも1時間～3時間 は仕事をしていま

す。残業代は一切付かず、休日出勤しても手当がありません。長時間労働やストレス

で仲間たちも体調を崩してきています。（NPO法人 労働相談センター）

Unions for youths commended for contributions to fight against deaths of overwork

The Dragon Fund to Abolish Karoshi awarded Youth Union Tokyo and Evil-arbeit Union the 9^th NAKAJIMA Tomio Prize in recognition of the two unions' efforts to improve working conditions for young people. The fund that commemorates a worker at a restaurant chain who died a death from overwork (Karoshi) in August 2004, has supported efforts toward the eradication of such deaths since its establishment in 2006 and awards the prize named after the worker each year to organizations and individuals that have made significant contributions to this end.

The ceremony held in Tokyo on August 9, the Nagasaki atomic-bomb day, with 112 attendees, started with a moment of silence for Nakajima, MAEZAWA Takayuki, another worker at the same restaurant chain who passed away in 2007, MORI Mina, a worker victimized by Watami izakaya bar chain in 2008 and victims of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki. The parents of Mori reported on the status of the lawsuit against the bar chain and its owner, WATANABE Miki, a member of the Upper House of the Diet. Professor Emeritus IGARASHI Jin, a political scientist and a former director of the Ohara Institute for Social Research, Hosei University, gave a lecture titled “Toward a society where people are respected.” (SUDA Mitsuhiro)

首都圏学生ユニオンと ブラックバイトユニオンを表彰～第9回中島富雄賞

 過労死をなくすために活動している「過労死をなくそう！龍基金」は８月９日、第９回中島富 雄賞授賞式を東京・葛飾で開催し、若者の労働環境の改善に取り組んでいる首都圏学生ユニオンとブラッ クバイトユニオンの両団体を今年の受賞者として表彰しました。ワタミ過労死遺族はワタミや渡辺美樹参 院議員ら経営者に法的責任を取らせるべく交渉に入っていると現在の裁判闘争を報告。政治学者の五十嵐 仁さん（法政大学大原社会問題研究所前所長）が「人間が大切にされる社会をめざして」と題して記念講 演を行いました。会場には満席の112人が集まりました。冒頭、すかいらーくで過労死した中島富雄さんと 前澤隆之さん、ワタミで過労死した森美菜さん、また当日が長崎原爆の日だったことから被爆者への哀悼 を表して全員で黙とうを捧げました。（須田光照） 

Aeon subsidiary Amity implicated in teacher's suicide

 A labor standards office in Ishikawa Prefecture took an unusual move to determine that the suicide of an English-language instructor was caused by the extra work she was forced to do at home.The woman had sent e-mails to colleagues and acquaintances lamenting the extra work. She also wept in phone calls to her father about her workload.

  She later committed suicide by jumping from her condominium in Kanazawa in June 2011. She was 22 years old.Her father applied to the Kanazawa Labor Standards Inspection Office for recognition that his daughter’s death was caused by her job.
 However, since she had lived alone, the office could not readily determine how many hours she worked outside her workplace.So officials at the office performed the same work she did at home to find the extent of her burden, sources said Nov. 5.
 According to inspection office documents and lawyers who represented the woman’s father, the inspection office focused on 1,210 cards with letters and 1,175 cards with neat illustrations that she had created mainly at home during the two months since she joined Amity Corp., an operator of English conversation schools for children in various parts of Japan. Members of the inspection office created similar cards. They took 29 seconds to nine minutes and 26 seconds to make each card.
(General Union Website)
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