[APWSLMembers 507] Foreign female interns to sue Toyota subcontractor

[Oidon]

 http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070309a5.html

Friday, March 9, 2007

Foreign female interns to sue Toyota subcontractor

NAGOYA (Kyodo) Six Vietnamese women who came to Japan for industrial
training and an internship under a Japanese government-sponsored
skills-transfer program will sue a subcontractor of Toyota Motor Corp. for
more than 30 million yen in damages and unpaid wages, their supporters said
Thursday.

The suit will be filed with the Nagoya District Court by the end of this
month, the supporters said, charging that overtime allowances remain unpaid
and the interns' human rights were violated.

The women, all in their 20s, also plan to sue the Japanese recipient body of
the trainees, which is a union of Toyota's third-tier subcontractors, and
the Japan International Training Cooperation Organization, a body set up by
five ministries to promote the transfer of techniques and skills to
developing countries, the supporters said.

The accused third-tier subcontractor is an auto parts maker based in Toyota,
Aichi Prefecture, where the nation's largest automaker is headquartered. The
subcontractor was not identified.

The women will argue that the JITCO took no action to help them despite
knowing their plight, the supporters said.

The six women came in 2003 and 2004 to receive industrial training. The
recipient body, the Toyota technology exchange association, sent them to the
third-tier subcontractor where they worked in the production of vehicle seat
parts.

The women were paid less than the legal minimum wage during their
internships in the second and third years of their stays, in violation of
the Labor Standard Law, the supporters said.

Their employer forced them to deposit a large portion of the pay into their
bank accounts, and then took their deposit books and passports to prevent
them from escaping, according to their supporters.

The women were docked 15 yen per minute when they took toilet breaks, the
supporters said, adding that some executives also sexually harassed them.

The subcontractor, the recipient body and the state-backed organization all
declined comment.

Japan launched its state-sponsored industrial training and internship
program in 1993 to help foreign workers acquire skills that could be
transferred to their home countries. Participants are allowed to work as
technical interns for two years after undergoing a one-year training course.

The program has been under fire for allowing Japanese employers to hire
foreigners as manual laborers at low wages and also for helping foreigners
disappear into the illegal labor force.