The phenomenon of “working without a job” is gaining pace around the world, showing no signs of slowing down. But what does working without a job mean? Many readers may have no idea what I’m talking about. This phrase refers to working without employment; meaning that one has zero rights as workers under labor laws.
On July 1, the US State Department cited Attorney Shoichi Ibuski as one of seven heroes in its 2021 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report for his long years of work fighting for the rights of foreign workers caught up in Japan’s technical intern program.
During a May 30 demonstration in front of central Tokyo’s JR Takadanobaba Station, my labor union, Tozen Union, called upon the Japanese government to overhaul its immigration system and to protect the human rights of foreigners.
Tozen Union joined other labor unions and rights groups in a sit-in Wednesday outside Japan’s Diet Building, as the House of Councillors deliberated a bill to get tough on refugees, migrants, and other foreigners.
The coronavirus continues to rampage through society, but 2021 has begun. Unnoticed by some, several coronavirus crisis villages (sodan mura) sprang up around Japan’s capital city in recent weeks. The pandemic has devastated people’s livelihoods as well as public health.
Shane Corporation management, which earlier this year attempted to force its language teachers to repay the furlough allowance they had received during the coronavirus emergency shutdown in the spring, has followed up with yet more egregious action.
The labor union I represent, Tozen Union, this year marked its decennial anniversary–ten years since its founding on April 25, 2010.
Countless workers are struggling to make ends meet as the Covid-19 coronavirus leads to non-renewals, dispatch agency firings, and even non-payment of the furlough allowance. This includes English conversation schools, many of whose foreign instructors face economic hardship after losing their jobs.
Today, we see the eight-hour workday as a social norm, albeit observed more in the breech. But workers shed blood and tears to bequeath this right to us.
