Fullcast suspension takes toll / Temp firm halts business for a month; safety net not working
Written by Writer on Sunday, October 19th, 2008
Fullcast suspension takes toll / Temp firm halts business for a month; safety net not working
Katsuki Hondaand Sachio Nikaido / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers
Major temp staffing agency Fullcast Co., which began serving a monthlong punitive suspension of its business for the second time on Oct. 10, will not be able to dispatch workers under new contracts during this period.
Fullcast’s suspension was ordered by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry and is likely to sharply reduce the number of jobs available for its daily dispatch workers. Such workers account for about 40 percent of Fullcast’s 8,000 dispatch workers.
Since the safety net for daily dispatch workers, such as the provision of employment insurance, does not function effectively, many are concerned about their livelihoods.
Companies that require dispatch workers say they cannot do business without such workers.
With the government planning to prohibit in principle the employment of daily dispatch workers, a framework to help such workers must be established.
On Oct. 9 daily dispatch workers gathered in Tokyo to demand a drastic review of the Dispatch Worker Law.
During a speech at the rally, Masami Fujino, 39, a registered Fullcast worker, said, “The labor market should get rid of the daily paid worker dispatch system.”
He argued that temporary staffing agencies should not obtain commissions for dispatching daily paid workers to companies.
Fujino also said Fullcast deserved the business suspension order because the staffing agency had violated the law.
While Fujino talks tough publicly, privately he remains concerned about his livelihood.
In the past, he registered with another major temporary staffing agency, Goodwill Inc., which went out of business at the end of July.
After Goodwill was given a business suspension order in January, Fujino obtained work mainly through Fullcast.
This time, however, Fujino is not sure if he will be able to find work. He has considered registering with another temporary staffing agency or going to work directly for a moving company.
Under the current situation, it is hard for temporary dispatch workers to find employment.
Goodwill’s bankruptcy has left Fullcast as the only major temporary staffing agency.
Small and midsize companies dispatch workers on a daily basis, but even these companies have difficulty finding employment for so many of these workers.
According to a survey conducted by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, last year there were about 50,000 daily dispatch workers in the country.
However, the number of such workers is sure to have declined since the two major temp staff agencies were ordered to suspend business. Currently, an estimated 10,000 dispatch workers are sent out on a daily basis, a ministry official said.
Some of these workers are students and housewives, and their livelihoods are not immediately affected if they cannot find employment.
But even a brief period of unemployment for dispatch workers who work full-time will have a significant negative affect on their finances, according to Shuichiro Sekine, secretary general of Haken Union, a labor organization for daily dispatch workers.
The national employment insurance system is a safety net for unemployed people. However, employers are obliged to join the system only if their employees work more than 20 hours a week for more than a year.
In addition, there is a system to provide allowances to daily workers who become jobless.
An allowance of 4,100 yen to 7,500 yen per day is given to those who have worked a total of more than 26 days in the preceding two months when they are looking for work.
In September last year, the government expanded the eligibility of the system to assist daily dispatch workers.
However, only four people have benefited from the expanded system.
Sekine added that most temporary workers do not know about the payout system and he criticized the government for failing to publicize it.
The ministry has notified temporary staffing agencies and used its Web site to publicize the system, but a ministry official said there was no perfect way to inform the public about the system.
(Oct. 19, 2008)
