(1) RENGO’s stance on status of residence and qualification for authorized employment
    Under the Immigration Law as amended in 1989, conditions for the granting of status of residence and authorized employment was relaxed substantially. However, Japan’s environment for employment still remains tough, and women are still underemployed compared to their counterpart in other developed countries. In this particular situation, it is unreasonable to advocate the acceptance of foreign workers unless the problem of the underemployment of women is abated. Prior to allowing the entry of foreign workers, we need to promote the employment of elderly people, who have excellent technical expertise/skills and experiences, improve the employment environment to allow younger or unskilled workers to take a more active role in the workforce, encourage labour saving and efficiency improvements by means of innovations, and improve employment management. For the time being, we must solve these immediate problems in employment.
    In the future as well, the acceptance of foreign workers beyond the present framework of the Japanese immigration control system is a critical issue that will have an effect on “the future vision of the Japanese state.” For instance, the acceptance of foreign workers to mitigate a temporary glut in the Japanese labour market may cause massive unemployment when economic conditions worsen. Thus, an adequate national consensus should be reached prior to the acceptance of foreign workers.
    Accordingly, the present status of residence for authorized employment should be retained unchanged, as should the requirements for authorized employment.

(2) The “entertainer” status of residence
    The present status of residence for “entertainer” is often used to conceal trafficking or forced labour. Therefore, applications for this residential status must be subjected to more rigorous inspections. No Japanese law defines trafficking and explicitly prohibits such conduct as being illegal. Accordingly, promoters of prostitution and brokers are only subject to penalties against their agency service for illegal employment, and they rarely face criminal charges. In this regard, adequate help for victims through counseling or medical care is required, and at the same time law enforcement must crack down on illegal intercessors and brokers.

(3) Permission for authorized employment of foreign students
    In recent years, many foreign college and pre-college students can be seen working at convenience stores, pubs and elsewhere. Under a special permit, they are allowed to engage in part-time work for up to four hours a day for a pre-college student, and to up 14 hours (or up to 28 hours a week) for a college student, as long as this work does not hinder the activity specified in their status of residence. In reality, however, many of them have to work much longer hours to earn enough to support themselves given the high cost of living in Japan. In addition, there is no end to the influx of malicious foreign pre-college and college students who come to Japan just to look for jobs.
    Part-time work by students exceeding the permissible working hours not only falls into unauthorized employment, but also hinders “studying,” which is their original objective for acquiring the residential status. Therefore, the Immigration Bureau should more carefully review applications for authorized employment. Further, to help foreign students devote themselves to studying without part-time work, it seems necessary to provide more well-funded scholarship programs for foreign students regardless of their nationality.

(4) Special permit for status of residence by the Justice Minister
    A special permit for status of residence can be granted by the Justice Minister to foreigners who would otherwise be subjected to deportation under Article 24 of the Immigration Law. In determining if a special permit should be granted, the Minister must comprehensively take into account not only the deportee’s personal background and family situation, but also the relevant international situation, background to the deportation, and Japan’s foreign policy. In reality, both individual and surrounding situations vary widely by deportee, and there is no primary criterion for determining whether to grant a special permit for residence. The requirements for such special permits should be clearly described in the relevant administrative procedure.
    Also, the government should be cautious about adopting an “amnesty policy” that provides legitimacy to foreigners performing unauthorized employment under certain conditions in terms of their residence period, criminal records, and tax payments, on top of the already existing power of Justice Minister to grant special permit for residence, because any move toward an amnesty policy could result in an entry of many more foreigners without valid working visa, hoping to be granted such amnesty.

(1) Outline of the Industrial Training Program (ITP) and Technical Internship Program (TIP)
    The trainee/intern scheme for foreigners is part of a government-led activity designed to have Japanese business companies accept trainees and interns from overseas, help them to acquire technology and skills, and thus provide assistance to dispatching countries to help the development of human resources that can lead the economic development of those countries. The program covers a total of 113 tasks in 62 occupations (as of November 5, 2003). Foreign trainees and interns can undergo training and internships for a maximum of three years at Japanese firms.

(2) Problems of the training/internship scheme for foreigners
    In most cases, the scheme has been administered seriously in accord with its stated objective of making international contributions. However, some recipient firms have moved far away from the purpose of the scheme, using the training programs as a means to acquire unskilled labour. Further, some employers have confiscated trainees’ passports, and also there are many cases where trainees and interns complain that their employers force them to make involuntary savings, withhold housing and food expenses, and fail to pay attention to occupational health and safety requirements, or that they do not pay medical insurance premiums, which they are obliged to subscribe for their trainees under a ministerial decree pursuant to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act (obligation to subscribe to medical insurance policy in entry procedures). Besides these problems, some employers and dispatching/recipient organizations misuse the training scheme, resulting in the disappearance of trainees, violations of the Minimum Wage Law, and unlawful overtime work by trainees. In certain cases these troubles can be traced to the dispatching countries as well.

(3) RENGO’s stance on the training/internship scheme for foreigners
    As discussed above, this scheme has a mountain of problems. Therefore, a thorough review must be conducted, including if necessary the abolition of the scheme itself, and a new framework for a training scheme, which meets the conditions described below, should be discussed at the tripartite talks between government, trade unions and employers.

(4) Toward a revamping of the training/internship scheme
    To create a proper foreign trainee and internship program, it seems inadequate to simply tighten the checking of entry visas and residential status of foreign trainees and interns, or to strengthen the prosecution of malicious recipient organizations and employers with violations of relevant laws. Rather, there is a need for institutional reform with the following components:

(1) Protection of the rights of foreigners performing unauthorized employment
    In Japan, even if a foreigner is performing unauthorized employment, the person’s labour rights are protected as long as he or she is regarded as a worker. Although the provisions of labour laws, including the Labor Standards Law, Minimum Wage Law and Occupational Health and Safety Law, apply indifferently to all workers regardless of their nationality, there is a need to ensure that such labour rights are protected in practice.

(2) Strengthening penalties against the “offense of promoting unauthorized employment”
    Individuals who have promoted unauthorized employment, either by hiring one or more foreigners not authorized to work, or by acting as a broker, offering employment to such foreigners, can be given a prison term of three years or less or a fine of \2 million or less, under the offense of promoting unauthorized employment. Further, the penalty for taking charge of people who have been smuggled into the country and making them perform unauthorized work under one’s control is five years or less in prison or a fine of \3 million or less (if done for a profit motive the penalty is 1 to 10 years in prison or a fine of \10 million or less) under Article 74 (4) of the Immigration Law, in addition to the penalty for promoting unauthorized employment. A person who has given shelter to one or more illegal residents can be penalized by three years or less in prison or a fine of \1 million or less (if done for a profit motive, five years or less in prison or a fine of \3 million or less) under Article 74 (8) of the Immigration Law.
    On the other hand, the penalty for a foreigner engaged in unauthorized work is a prison term of up to three years or a fine of \3 million or less. Probably because offending employers are usually sentenced relatively lightly compared to the illegal foreigners, there is no end to employers who use unauthorized employment, and there is a need to impose much heavier sentences on such employers.

(3) Formulation of CSR codes that discourage unauthorized employment
    In many cases, employers who hire unauthorized workers employ them at low wages, even though they are well aware that what they are doing is unlawful. The existence of such unlawful employers who exploit the cost advantages of unauthorized workers over authorized workers constitute a barrier to fair competition, and may drive out businesses that comply with the law. With or without bad faith, a major cause for the presence of unauthorized workers in Japan can be found in the corporate culture of some firms that favor low wage workers even if they are unauthorized. As these firms are not following the perspective of CSR, their conduct should be properly discouraged.

RENGO Headquarters, Local RENGOs, affiliates and individual unions will offer labour consultation service, in partnership with relevant NPOs, to all foreign workers in order to protect their basic human rights. Some affiliates and Local RENGOs have already begun to organize foreign workers. The organization of foreign workers is a challenge for RENGO as a whole.