Most firms uninterested in work hour exemption for professionals

This is a further deterioration in the working conditions. Now even professionals and managers will have to form unions to protect themselves.

The government could quite easily put a cup on overtime, make it law and any one who worked over the allotted time could end up being prosecuted. and they should stipulate that working for free even after the top end of the overtime has been reached you will and still could be prosecuted. in the UK some years ago a large transport company was prosecuted for breach of health and safety, the drivers who have a set amount of driving time were asked to do other tasks in or around the transport yard, then they went out driving, although the didn't contravene and breaches in driving regulations, The HSE claimed that they were still at work as they had clocked on for a days shift, so they were at work and driving was part of the day, the company got fined heavily for it.

a key pillar of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's sweeping labor reforms coming into effect next April. So another fail for the Shinz. Sweeping reforms but no legal protection for workers no limit for working hours. Oh excuse me 100 hours OT is it a month or a week?. Brilliance absolutely a stunning display of "I really don't care" work, pay tax, die thank you very much. It's raining workers.

It's really strange that, on one hand they are making laws to stop excessive work hours and then, they create another law to promote excessive work hours. Which one is it?

My Mrs applied for a job last week and the deal was ¥350,000 per month, which included 40+ plus hours of overtime every month. The standard full time salary is ¥350,000, but these slavers want a full week's work for free every month! These kinds of contracts are illegal where I come from. The national overtime limit per month in Australia is 40 hours per month. However, most companies have a 20 hours per month cap on overtime. How can you offer someone a 160 hour per month job and then tell them they have to work another 40 hours per month to get paid for the first 160 hours? It's criminal!

The government could quite easily put a cup on overtime, make it law 

They have, it's capped at 100 hours a month! What a joke!

Among the 49 companies who expressed no interest in the scheme, the most common reason was that they did not have any workers that were eligible.

Meaning that outside of the kaicho, shacho, yakuiin, and "upper" management, no one else actually makes that much!

I think highly paid professionals can handle the pressure and get a new job easily.

Pray tell, just what company has "highly paid professionals"? The manner in which Japanese companies do their mass hiring prevents most if not all from having any at all. The staff work their way up the ladder, little by little.

Instead of complaining, start your own business. Then you take the risks, set your own standards...that's it. I make 12 M yen for month, sometimes more but I only work 40 hrs..and that's after taxes..stop complaining..

bjohnson23 12 M yen / month sounds impressive for a one man operation - what do you do ? Bank Robber or Lawyer ?

Japan’s quasi-militaristic work ethos confers a huge comparative cost advantage which it would never unilaterally surrender. Denying workers here rights that are simply taken for granted elsewhere; two days off a week, flexible working hours, no arbitrary postings to distant places, a minimum four weeks annual vacation able to be used in full, no service overtime, contract term limits, labor laws with real teeth; all of this translates into the higher profits which enables Japan Inc. to undercut foreign competitors which are legally obligated to pay for all those things. Japan’s appalling treatment of its workers, its cynical use and abuse of them as expendable assets, is excused and justified as part of some zero sum game greater good national power equation. It will only ever be tackled when the countries that do business with Japan insist on making access to their markets conditional upon Japan bringing its labor practices into line with those of its competitors. That, or face being tarrified.

Wow... just when you thought Japan couldn't go any further backwards and put its own people further into slavery, I guess you were wrong. Japan never learns, and it's people vote for it with a shouganai.

The solution is in the hands of the individual. Either don’t take the job with those conditions or refuse to work unpaid. Unionise with a union that will fight (start one if not) and only vote for candidates who actualy represent your interests.

oyatoi, it is the attitude of expecting others to sort things out for you instead of taking individual responsibility that has lead to the current situation, ( so don’t hold your breath expecting the international community to come riding to your rescue, unless it suits their interests) but that is the Japanese way and unless the Japanese people choose to change their culture that will not change; if you don’t like it, take responsibility your self and actively campaign for change or move elsewhere.

I have worked here for 30 years and find that the bigger the company the more meetings there are.

These meetings are often pointless and are usually held to have a status on a particular project, making sure there are responsible people on every WBS. They are also held for the managers to make sure that they are NOT the responsible person on that Excel sheet.

Cut out the meetings and let people do the necessary work, instead of playing school to see who has done their homework or not always. Take responsibility and be productive. Like Germany most work tasks can be finished in a 9 to 6 working day.

Thankfully I am now a consultant to these companies, not an employee of them.

englisc aspyrgend

“.....so don’t hold your breath expecting the international community to come riding to your rescue, unless it suits their interests”

It’s not to my rescue, it’s to their own! And, as Trump’s embrace of tariffs shows, it DOES suit their interests.

This article is laughable & down right scary at the same time!

We have companies that say they have no one that would ""qualify"" to be overworked & FLEECED!

And we have:

Meanwhile, 53 or nearly half of the companies polled in July were in favor of expanding the "discretionary labor system," a scheme already in place that allows employers to pay workers based on a fixed number of overtime hours rather than actual time worked.

A majority chomping at the bit to FORCE workers for even more free unpaid labour!

Japan is in a DEATH SPIRAL, the population elderly is skyrocketing while the number of babies born PLUMMETS, the J-way is literally killing the country.

And the reason why companies ignore abe's crappy idea, simple it DOESNT MATTER how much you make J-Inc will still expect its slaves to work a ton of UNPAID OVERTIME!!

Doesn't matter whether you started last April or 30years ago, nor does it matter how much you make or DONT make!

We are set to decline perhaps at an even faster rate is so so many ways!T

Japan needs a national worker's strike, and get 40 hours a week maximum. And get a full weekend off

Japan needs to move from effort to results based work. The problem then is these companies don't pay enough.

GDP no longer holds meaning in a falling population. People need a break, not more hours. Companies need to scale to the population that exists, not what used to be