Comment on Japan overwork deaths among young show lessons unlearned

Japan overwork deaths among young show lessons unlearned

Despite efforts over the past two decades to cut back on overwork, karoshi still causes hundreds of deaths and illnesses every year in Japan, affecting all sorts of workers, from elite "salary-man and career-woman" employees like Takahashi to IT technicians and manual laborers. On top of the 40-hour work week the Labor Standards Law sets for most workers, as an exception that serves as a loophole companies can establish voluntary ceilings for overtime. Older workers who retire from permanent positions with full benefits often are replaced by part-timers or chronically overworked contractors who likewise have little leverage and no union representation. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government wants companies to drastically cut working hours to enable men to help out more at home and create more job opportunities for women. Asked during parliamentary questioning about Takahashi's death, the third officially acknowledged case of "karoshi" at Dentsu, Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Yasuhisa Shiozaki threatened harsh action against the company, which dominates advertising for both companies and the government. There is growing recognition that efforts to curb overwork are failing and that the pressure increasingly is affecting younger workers, said Emiko Teranishi, who founded a group for karoshi victims' families after her husband, a chef, died of overwork. In 2015 alone, 93 suicides and attempted suicides were officially recognized as overwork deaths and eligible for compensation and 96 deaths from heart attacks, strokes and other illnesses were linked to overwork, it said. A 27-year-old Philippine man, Joey Tocnang, died of heart failure in April 2014 while participating in a government-sponsored training program at a die-casting factory in central Japan's Gifu prefecture.

 

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