Ruling Bloc, Two Opposition Parties Agree on Revisions to Labor Reform Bill

May 21, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's ruling coalition reached a broad agreement with two opposition parties Monday on revisions to a work style reform bill calling for exempting high-income specialist jobs from overtime regulations, seeking enactment of the legislation during the ongoing session of the Diet, scheduled to end on June 20.

The agreement among the Liberal Democratic Party-Komeito coalition, Nippon Ishin no Kai (the Japan Innovation Party) and the Party of Hope includes the addition of a provision to allow workers to quit as designated professionals with no overtime limit after entering into such specialist contracts.

Another revision calls for large companies' efforts to help their subcontractors prevent their employees from working excessively, such as giving considerations to how to place orders and when to set delivery deadlines.

The ruling bloc plans to put the revised bill to a vote by the Health, Labor and Welfare Committee of the House of Representatives on Wednesday so it can send the legislation to the House of Councillors by the end of this month upon gaining full Lower House approval.

"We'll face a crucial stage in the Lower House this week," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at a liaison meeting between the government and the ruling parties on Monday. "As the government moves ahead with a sense of tension, we'd like to have continued support from the ruling parties."

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Komeito leader Natsuo Yamaguchi welcomed the agreement with the two opposition parties as a "step forward."

But the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the largest opposition group in the powerful lower chamber, and other major opposition parties remain opposed to the introduction of the overtime exemption system for high-income specialists.

To block the passage of the legislation, the opposition parties are poised to submit a demand to dismiss Shuichi Takatori of the LDP as the Lower House committee chairman and a no-confidence motion against labor minister Katsunobu Kato.

In a related development Monday, senior officials of the opposition Democratic Party for the People and the Japanese Trade Union Confederation, or Rengo, agreed to keep demanding the removal of the overtime exemption system from the legislation.

Yuichiro Tamaki, cohead of the party, told reporters later that the legislation should not be enacted as it is. "Flaws have been discovered in fundamental data for the legislation, and more may be found," he said. Jiji Press