ブラック企業 若者の使い捨ては許されない

The Yomiuri Shimbun September 10, 2013
Exploitation of young workers should never be tolerated
ブラック企業　若者の使い捨ては許されない（9月8日付・読売社説）

Businesses referred to as “black companies”—firms that compel young employees to work under brutal conditions—have become a social problem.
　若者に過重労働を強いる「ブラック企業」が社会問題となっている。

The Health, Welfare and Labor Ministry has embarked on on-site investigations of about 4,000 companies, which have markedly high attrition rates and where unpaid overtime and nonpayment of regular wages are common occurrences.
　厚生労働省は、離職率が極端に高く、サービス残業や賃金未払いが常態化している企業約４０００社を対象に、立ち入り調査を始めた。

The ministry says it will make public the names of firms whose labor practices are deemed especially vicious. It should solidly grasp the prevailing situation and resolutely exercise its leadership in issuing corrective instructions to black companies.
　悪質な企業については、社名を公表するという。実態を把握し、指導を強めてもらいたい。

There is no clear-cut definition of a “black company,” but such firms generally give their workers little choice but to work excessively long hours and treat them inhumanly as if they are worthless. There are many cases in which superiors intimidate younger workers through verbal abuse.
　ブラック企業に明確な定義はないが、共通するのは、異常な長時間労働をさせた上で、社員を使い捨てにする点だ。上司の暴言などによるパワーハラスメントが横行しているケースも多い。

In some cases, employees receive no overtime pay even though they work more than 100 hours of overtime per month. Some workers are criticized repeatedly after completing their normal shift, and forced to practice how to serve customers. One young male worker was so depressed he quit his job and had no choice but to support himself on welfare payments.
　残業が月１００時間を超えても残業代が支払われない。業務終了後も上司から繰り返し叱責され、接客の練習をさせられる。うつ病になって退職し、生活保護を受けている。若手男性社員のこのような例もある。

A situation in which a young worker who, under ordinary circumstances, would play a role in helping to support the nation’s social welfare system through payment of taxes and publicly run insurance premiums, conversely becomes a welfare recipient is a true loss for society.
　本来なら働いて税や保険料を納め、社会保障の支え手となるべき若者が、逆に受け手となるのは社会全体の損失だ。医療費や生活保護費は国民の負担となる。

Unscrupulous companies that profit by passing social welfare costs on to society should be criticized as irredeemably selfish.
　こうしたコストを社会に押しつけて、利益を上げようという企業経営は、あまりに身勝手だ。

The recent increase in black companies is the result of a stagnation of job offers due to the business slump, and the labor market becoming a buyer’s market for employers.
　ブラック企業が増えている背景には、不況に伴う求人の低迷で、就職戦線が買い手市場になっていることがある。

Relief steps urgent

These exploitative companies hire young workers en masse, assuming that most of them would be unable to endure the harsh working conditions and eventually quit.
　早期退職が続出するのを見越して大量採用する。

After hiring young workers, some firms assign abnormally heavy work burdens on them, permitting only those who fulfill their quotas to continue on the payroll to “fight” for the companies.
その上で、過剰なノルマを課し、成果を上げた社員だけを「即戦力」として選別する企業もあるという。

Ordinary companies provide new recruits with in-house job training to help them become fully fledged members of the firms.
　普通の企業なら、若手を一人前に育てるために社員教育を実施する。

Judging from what they are doing, however, black companies have no intention of tapping the abilities of new recruits or enhancing their job skills.
しかし、ブラック企業の実態からは、社員の能力を引き出し、伸ばしていこうという人材育成の姿勢が全く見えない。

To prevent young workers from being compelled to accept unreasonable treatment because of their weak positions vis-a-vis management, a mechanism should be established so young employees’ voices of protest against harsh working conditions can be heard.
　弱い立場の若手社員が、泣き寝入りしないためには、過酷な労働実態を訴える声をすくい上げる体制整備が、まずは欠かせない。

The ministry, for that matter, plans to create a telephone counseling service for young employees. Some lawyers’ organizations as well as the ministry’s “Hello Work” job placement offices also plan to expand counseling services for young workers. These programs should be effective in functioning as “shelters” for exploited young workers.
　厚労省は、若者からの電話相談窓口を新設する。弁護士団体やハローワークも相談業務を拡充する方針だ。“駆け込み寺”として有効に機能させたい。

A European Union regulation makes it obligatory for companies to have workers rest for 11 straight hours or more every 24 hours.
　欧州連合（ＥＵ）では、２４時間につき連続１１時間以上の休息を社員にとらせることを企業に義務づけたルールがある。

In Japan, the Labor Standards Law stipulates the upper ceilings of working hours, but under special labor-management agreements, employees can be forced to work as long as the companies want.
　日本では、労働基準法で労働時間の上限が定められてはいるが、労使が特別な協定を結べば、企業が事実上、際限のない長時間労働を社員に課すことができる。

It is a key task for the government to establish a system to restrict excessive overtime similar to that of the EU.
　ＥＵなどの例も参考に、過度な長時間労働を抑える仕組み作りも、今後の課題だろう。

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Sept. 8, 2013)
（2013年9月8日01時46分 読売新聞）