At the 22nd Central Executive Committee Meeting on March 11, RENGO endorsed its "Evaluation and Policy for draft recommendation on 'The Present and Future of Legal Systems Regulating Placement Services' by the Subcommittee For A Private Workforce Supply-Demand System."
At the meeting RENGO confirmed two points; "(1) to strengthen the public placement service system as a safety net to secure Articles 22 and 27 in the Japanese Constitution. The former being the right to choose one's occupation and the latter the right to work, (2) to establish rules for the protection of workers." The draft recommendation for "The Present and Future of Legal Systems Regulating Placement Services" was endorsed at the 381st Central Employment Security Council Meeting held on March 11 and submitted to the Labor Minister.

RENGO advocated drastic revision of the Employment Security Law. In spite of fifty years of ongoing industrial structure changes and diversification of employment patterns since the end of the war, this current law is neither responsive to the need to adjust the supply and demand of labor nor sufficiently capable of protecting workers.
Further, it is vital to set up a domestic law that allows for a flexible system that adjusts the supply and demand of labor and deals with the globalization of the economy while seeking the protection of workers. That should be based on the basic principle of ILO Convention 181 (Concerning Private Employment Agencies), which was adopted as the new international standard in June 1997.
Placement services, however, do not directly generate employment. They are just an unemployment measure. This measure only dispenses job information properly to minimize the unemployment period, which tends to be prolonged, in order to resolve the unbalanced supply-demand of labor as much as possible.
People who espouse the view that job opportunities expand once private placement services are deregulated are, in our estimation, irrelevant.

Therefore, RENGO believes that government should immediately take measures to define its stance, as it is necessary to devote itself entirely to establishing comprehensive employment plans that respond to protracted unemployment and prepare a social safety net that supports job searches and living standards.

The revised Employment Security Bill will be submitted to the Diet after having gone through the administrative procedures of seeking advice and reporting on the outline of the Central Employment Security Council draft. RENGO, deepening its ties with the Liberal Party and other supporting cooperative parties, will pursue collateral measures to carry out newly established rules such as the "worker information protection measures and labor supply and demand adjustment rules." These new rules are defined as being common to both public and private placement services. In addition, RENGO seeks to guarantee the protection of privacy found in measures such as the Labor Standard Law.

It is almost certain that the "Dispatched Labor Law Amendment" and "Employment Security Bill," which were already submitted and will be influential on the future employment market and employment measures, will be deliberated at the ongoing 145th ordinary Diet session.
RENGO will establish its own rules to strengthen the public placement service system as a safety-net to ensure Articles 22 and 27 of the Japanese constitution, that is the right to choose one's occupation and the right to work, and also rules to protect workers.
Specifically, RENGO will request that the Liberal Party and other parties specially handle issues at related committees concerning dispatched labor, a complicated employment relationship in which employment responsibility has been left vague. RENGO is asking for individual deliberation because it sees an organizational decision as critical. It would rather see the bill killed than not secure the rights of dispatched workers and the workers' protection measures under the process of deliberating the Dispatched Worker Law Amendment.

Photo: Labor Standard Act will change from tomorrow.

On April 1, the Revised Labor Standard Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Law, Child-Care and Family Care Leave Law, Temporary Labor Law went into effect. In an effort to enlighten workers regarding those laws, on March 31, RENGO conducted nationwide street and rail station campaigns.