[APWSLMembers 338] Toyota subcontractors warned over low pay for Vietnamese workers

[Oidon]

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20060903p2a00m0na007000c.html

Toyota subcontractors warned over low pay for Vietnamese workers

Labor authorities have warned 23 Japanese subcontractors of Toyota Motor
Co. for paying hundreds of Vietnamese workers in Toyoda, Aichi
Prefecture, less than the legal minimum wage, a newspaper reported
Sunday.

Unpaid wages owed to some 200 Vietnamese workers employed at plants in
the Toyoda area since 2001 total about 50 million yen, the Tokyo Shimbun
said, quoting unnamed officials.

The 23 companies were not named.

In one case, a company paid 702 yen per hour to its Vietnamese
employees, below the minimum wage of 807 yen.

That company only paid 450 yen per hour for overtime instead of the
minimum 1,009 yen, the newspaper said.

Labor authorities in Toyoda investigated the companies from June and
issued harsh warnings, according to the report. All companies had
reimbursed the workers based on Japan's legal standards by the end of
August, the report said.

The subcontractors supply car seats and other parts to Toyota, which is
headquartered in Toyoda, the newspaper said. The minimum wages cited in
the report refer to those set by the Toyoda local government for
manufacturing positions in the area.

The companies first hired Vietnamese workers in 2001 as part of Japan's
technical interns program, the report said.

The program, which is supposed to train young people from developing
countries through job placements, has been criticized as a way for
Japanese companies to exploit cheap labor.

Calls to the Labor Standards Office in Toyoda rang unanswered Sunday.