24/7 TO OBLIVION:

All work and no pay in Japan (Scott North and Charles Weathers, 1/06/07, Speaking Freely: Asia Times Online)

Seeking a "21st-century way of working" that promotes increased labor productivity and "flexible working styles", Japan's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) has issued a draft report recommending major changes to regulations that govern working hours. The centerpiece of the proposal is an exemption from overtime pay for white-collar workers.

Opponents say the white-collar exemption is poorly suited to the realities of Japanese corporate culture. They see the establishment of an exemption from overtime pay as legitimizing the widespread practice of unpaid overtime. Opposition political parties, unions and labor lawyers say the law will only aggravate the problem. [...]

Despite demands for both further debate and the withdrawal of the proposal, and although important details, in particular the salary level of exempt workers, remain unannounced, some form of white-collar exemption appears headed for passage when the legislation is sent to the Diet (parliament) this month.

Instead of the current eight-hour workday and 40-hour workweek mandated by the Labor Standards Law, the proposal just announced by the Working Conditions Subcommittee of the MHLW's labor-policy deliberation council calls for scrapping regulations on working hours for selected white-collar workers.

With your population imploding you can't afford to let anyone of working age take time off.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 5, 2007 11:15 AM