英字新聞

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 4
EDITORIAL: Dispatched workers.THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
派遣法改正―働き方を正す一歩として

The Diet is currently debating a bill to amend the law on dispatched workers. The proposed legislation is far from perfect, but at least the Diet can explore ways to correct income disparities that breed poverty.
　問題点は少なくないとしても、貧困や格差を是正していくための一歩として役立てる道を考えたい。

Dispatched, or haken, workers have no employment stability. Their jobs, which are found by temporary staffing agencies, can be terminated at a moment's notice in what is known as haken-giri. As a result, people on occasion have suddenly found themselves homeless.
　国会で労働者派遣法改正案の審議が進められている。「派遣切り」で仕事を失うと、路頭に迷ってしまう。

The Diet must debate this issue in earnest and find ways to improve job security for dispatched workers.
そんな姿に象徴される不安定な働き方を、どう安定させていくか。そこをしっかりと論じ合うべきである。

The bill aims to protect dispatched workers and overhaul the dispatch system itself. The least protected among these workers are those who are registered with temp staff agencies and gain employment contracts only when jobs are available. This practice will be banned under the amended law, except in 26 fields that require special skills, such as interpreting.
　改正案は、派遣労働者の保護と制度の抜本的見直しを掲げる。仕事があるときだけ派遣会社と雇用契約を結ぶ「登録型」は、不安定な働き方の典型だ。これは専門知識が必要な通訳など２６業務を除き、禁止される。

The dispatch of workers to manufacturing companies, where massive dismissals became commonplace, will be allowed only in cases where temp staff agencies are expected to hire workers for more than one year.
　大量の「派遣切り」の背景となった製造業への派遣は、派遣元が１年以上雇う見込みのある「常用型」に限られる。

The amended law will also put an end to the illegal practice of giso ukeoi. This is when temp staffing agencies dispatch workers to client companies under disguised contracts that amount to outsourcing. The revised law will force offending client companies to conclude employment contracts directly with dispatched workers. One-day dispatches will, in principle, also be banned.
偽装請負のような違法な働き方をさせた場合は、派遣先に強制的に雇わせる「みなし雇用」制度も創設される。「日雇い」も原則禁止だ。

Since the dispatched workers law came into effect in 1986, the dispatch system has been deregulated time and again. The proposed amendment represents a major turning point.
　同法が１９８６年に制定されて以来、派遣労働の規制緩和が続いてきた。今回の改正は大きな転換である。

However, many workers are skeptical of the proposed revisions because they do not expect any substantive results. Some point out that regulating the dispatch system further will only result in a change of their status to workers under ukeoi and other equally unstable contracts. Approximately 440,000 dispatched workers will be affected by the revised law. A private research institute estimates that 180,000 of them could end up jobless.
　だが、改正案には派遣労働者の側から「形だけで、効果は期待できない」との批判がある。派遣を規制しても請負など別の不安定な働き方に変わるだけだ、という指摘もある。法改正で禁止対象となる派遣社員は約４４万人。このうち、１８万人が失職する可能性があるという民間研究所の試算もある。

These criticisms stem from the amendment bill's failure to address structural problems inherent in the dispatch system.
　こうした批判が生まれるのは、改正案が構造的な問題に切り込むことができていないことにも原因がある。

Of the nation's current work force of about 54 million, one-third are non-regular employees, including about 2 million dispatched workers.
　日本の労働者は約５４００万人。非正社員が３分の１を占める。派遣労働者は約２００万人だ。

Non-regular workers come in handy for companies that want cheap labor. The shift by companies to non-regular workers has resulted in widening income and other gaps among workers.
　必要なときに、安く使える非正社員の人たちは、経営側にとっては都合がいい。そこに寄りかかり、労働者間の格差が広がった。

The Diet must address this situation without delay.
　この状況を抜本的に是正するための議論こそ、国会に期待したい。めざすべき方向は見えてきつつある。

Wage systems based on the concept of "equal pay for jobs of equal value" are taking hold in Europe. Put simply, it means paying the same wages to regular and non-regular employees alike whose jobs generate the same results.
　同じ成果を生む働きについては正社員にも非正社員にも同じ賃金で報いる。そんな「同一価値労働・同一賃金」の考えに基づく賃金方式が欧州で広がってきている。

What should be done to put this concept into practice in our society and, specifically, at individual companies?
　日本の社会全体や個々の企業でもそうした方式を実現させていくには、どうすればいいのか。

Companies must be prepared to cut their regular employees' working hours and review the wage structure to equalize the treatment of regular and non-regular employees.
　企業ごとに正社員の長時間労働を減らすと同時に給与体系を見直し、非正社員との待遇均等化を進める、といった覚悟も問われるのではないか。

For the time being, the main challenge will be to expand the responsibilities of companies that accept dispatched workers and tighten pertinent regulations.
　当面は、派遣先企業の使用者責任の拡大や規制強化にどう取り組むかが重要な課題だろう。

It will also be necessary for the government to realize what companies are doing to replace dispatched workers with other contract workers in anticipation of the legal amendment.
　法制化を見越して派遣から請負などに切り替える実態の把握も必要だ。

There is a mountain of work to be done to make sure that everybody is able to work without being treated unfairly.
　すべての労働者が不当な扱いを受けることなく働けるようにするための課題は、山のようにある。