FOCUS: Many Temp Workers to See Contract Termination after Sept.

August 17, 2018

Tokyo- Many temporary workers dispatched by staffing agencies are expected to see their contracts end without renewal after Sept. 30, the third anniversary of the effectuation of a revised staffing law.

The revised law bans the use of "haken" dispatched workers at the same workplace for more than three years, in order to encourage companies to hire them as regular employees.

The law is aimed at preventing the use of staffing services from becoming an alternative to permanent employment and helping every worker develop his or her career, according to the labor ministry.

However, demand remains strong for dispatched workers despite improved business conditions, as it is easier for companies to let their contracts expire than to dismiss regular employees.

In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, many companies terminated or refused to renew contracts for haken workers.

The revised law allows dispatched workers to work at the same workplace beyond the three-year limit if staffing agencies conclude permanent contracts with them. But many agencies are reluctant to take this step.

Haken Union, a group supporting haken workers, has been consulted by several such workers a day about the issue of contract termination since the beginning of this month.

Among them is a woman in her 40s who has been working at a financial institute for about 10 years. She was recently notified that her contract will not be renewed beyond next February, when she will reach the end of the third year since she moved to her current staffing agency.

She hopes to continue to work at the same workplace, so Haken Union will help her negotiate with her agency.

In the law amendment, companies are allowed to use dispatched workers for the same work indefinitely by replacing them with new workers every three years or shorter after hearing opinions from labor unions.

"It wasn't a good amendment," Haken Union head secretary Shuichiro Sekine argued.

There are moves to permanently employ dispatched workers in industries facing severe labor shortages, particularly the retail and logistics sectors.

Tokyo-based iDA, which dispatches sales personnel to the fashion industry, last month said that it will convert some 320 dispatched workers reaching three-year deadlines to permanent employees if they wish.

Still, such moves seem unlikely for some jobs, such as clerical work, for which the ratio of job openings to seekers was low at 0.45 in June. Jiji Press